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^ PRINCETON, N. J.

Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund.

JV 6455 .G8 1906

Grose, Howard B. 1851-1939.

Aliens or Americans?

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2015

https://archive.org/details/aliensoramericanOOgros_0

Coming American's

FORWARD MISSION STUDY COURSES

EDITED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
THE YOUNG PEOPLES MISSIONARY MOVEMENT

ALIENS

AMERICANS
P

HOWARD B. GROSE

With Introduction

By Josiah Strong

Literature Department
PRESBYTERIAN HOME MISSIONS
156 Fifth Ave., New York City
1906

UNGUARDED GATES

Wide open and unguarded stand our gates,

And through them presses a wild, motley throng —

Men from the Volga and the Tartar steppes,

Featureless figures of the Hoang-Ho,

Malayan, Scythian, Teuton, Celt, and Slav,

Flying the old world's poverty and scorn;

These bringing with them unknown gods and rites.

Those, tiger passions, here to stretch their claws.

In street and alley what strange tongues are these,

Accents of menace alien to our air.

Voices that once the Tower of Babel knew !

O Liberty, White Goddess ! is it well

To leave the gates unguarded? On thy breast

Fold Sorrow's children, soothe the hurts of fate.

Lift the downtrodden, but with the hand of steel

Stay those who to thy sacred portals come

To waste the gifts of freedom. Have a care

Lest from thy brow the clustered stars be torn

And trampled in the dust. For so of old

The thronging Goth and Vandal trampled Rome.

And where the temples of the Caesars stood

The lean wolf unmolested made her lair.

— Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

TO ONE
WHO CHERISHES AMERICAN
IDEALS, WHO HAS INCULCATED LOVE OP
COUNTRY IN HER CHILDREN, AND
SOUGHT TO INSPIRE IT IN
ALL— MY WIFE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGL

Preface 9

Introduction, by Josiah Strong 13

I. The Alien Advance 15

II. Alien Admission and Restriction 51

TII. Problems of Legislation and Distribution.. 87

IV. The New Immigration 121

V. The Eastern Invasion 157

VI. The Foreign Peril of the City 193

VII. Immigration and the National Character... 231
VIII. The Home Mission Opportunity 267

APPENDIXES

A. Tables of Immigrants Admitted and Debarred 305

B. The Immigration Laws 309

C. Work of Leading Denominations for the For-

eign Population 314

D. Bibliography 321

ILLUSTRATIONS

Coming Americans Frontispiece

The Inflowing Tide Page i8

Ellis Island Immigration Station " 34

Receiving Room at Ellis Island " 59

Detained for Special Examination " 74

An Appeal from the Special Inquiry Board to

Commissioner Watchorn " 94

The Landing at the Battery in New York " 102

A German Family " 128

Italian and Swiss Girls " 144

A Group of Twelve Different Nationalities... " 166

Three Types of Immigrants " 180

A Group of Immigrants Just Arrived at Ellis

Island " 198

An Italian Family Crowded in a New York

Tenement " 210

Four Nationalities " 236

Portuguese and Spanish Children " 256

An Italian Sunday School in New England.. " 283

Sketch Maps and Charts

Immigration at the Port of New York for 1906 " 32

Immigrant Distribution by States for 1905 " 106

Immigrant Distribution by Races : Scandi-
navian " 108

Canadian and British " 109

Irish " 114

Germanic " 115

French and Iberic " 146

Slavic " 171

Changes in Sources of Immigration Causing

Increase of Illiteracy " 125

Countries from which the Slavs Come " 161

Distribution of Slavs in the United States... " 163

Wave of Immigration for Eighty-seven Years " 308
Colored Chart of Races of Immigrants for

1905 End

PREFACE

It is not a question as to whether the aliens
will come. They have come, millions of them;
they are now coming, at the rate of a million a
year. They come from every clime, country, and
condition ; and they are of every sort : good, bad,
and indifferent, literate and illiterate, virtuous
and vicious, ambitious and aimless, strong and
weak, skilled and unskilled, married and single,
old and young. Christian and infidel, Jew and
pagan. They form to-day the raw material of
the American citizenship of to-morrow. What
they will be and do then depends largely upon
what our American Protestant Christianity does
for them now.

Immigration — the foreign peoples in America,
who and where they are, whence they come, and
what under our laws and liberties and influences
they are likely to become — this is the subject of
our study. The subject is as fascinating as it is
vital. Its problems are by far the most pressing,
serious, and perplexing with which the American
people have to do. It is high time that our young
people were familiarizing themselves with the
facts, for this is preeminently the question of
to-day. Patriotism and religion — love of country

10 Aliens or Americans?

and love of Christ — unite to urge thoughtful
consideration of this great question: Aliens or
Americans ? One aim of this book is to show our
individual responsibility for the answer, and how
we can discharge it

Immigration may be regarded as a peril or a
providence, an ogre or an obligation — according
to the point of view. The Christian ought to see
in it the unmistakable hand of God opening wide
the door of evangelistic opportunity. Through
foreign missions we are sending the gospel to the
ends of the earth. As a home mission God is
sending the ends of the earth to our shores and
very doors. The author is a Christian optimist
who believes God has a unique mission for
Christian America, and that it will ultimately be
fulfilled. While the facts are in many ways
appalling, the result of his study of the foreign
peoples in our country has made him hopeful
concerning their Americanization and evangeliza-
tion, if only American Christians are awake and
faithful to their duty. The Christian young
people, brought to realize that immigration is
another way of spelling obligation, must do their
part to remove that tremendous IF.

These newcomers are in reality a challenge to
American Christianity. The challenge is clear
and imperative. Will we give the gospel to the
heathen in America? Will we extend the hand
of Christian brotherhood and helpfulness to the

Preface

stranger within our gates ? Will we Christianize,
which is the only real way to Americanize, the
Aliens? May this book help to inspire the truly
Christian answer that shall mean much for the
future of our country, and hence of the world.

The author makes grateful acknowledgment
to all who have assisted by suggestion or other-
wise. He has tried to give credit to the authors
whose works he has used. He is under special
obligation for counsel and many courtesies to
Josiah Strong, one of the modern patriot-
prophets who has sought to awaken Americans
to their Christian duty and privilege.

Howard B. Grose.

Briarcliff Manor, June, 1906.

INTRODUCTION

A million immigrants !
A million opportunities !
A million obligations !

This in brief is the message of Aliens or
Americans f

A young man who came to this country young
enough to get the benefit of our public schools,
and who then took a course in Columbia Univer-
sit3% writes : "Now, at twenty-one, I am a free
American, with only one strong desire ; and that
is to do something for my fellow-men, so that
when my time comes to leave the world, I may
leave it a bit the better." These are the words
of a Russian Jew ; and that Russian is a better
American, that Jew is a better Christian, than
many a descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers.

In this country every man is an American who
has American ideals, the American spirit,
American conceptions of life, American habits.
A man is foreign not because he was born in a
foreign land, but because he clings to foreign
customs and ideas.

I do not fear foreigners half so much as I
fear Americans who impose on them and brutally
abuse them. Such Americans are the most dan-

14 Aliens or Americans?

gerous enemies to our institutions, utterly foreign
to their true spirit. Such Americans are the
real foreigners.

Most of those who come to us are predisposed
in favor of our institutions. They are generally
unacquainted with the true character of those
institutions, but they all know that America is
the land of freedom and of plenty, and they are
favorably inclined toward the ideas and the
obligations which are bound up with these bless-
ings. They are open to American influence, and
quickly respond to a new and a better environ-
ment.

They naturally look up to us, and if with fair
and friendly treatment we win their confidence,
they are easily transformed into enthusiastic
Americans. But if by terms of opprobrium, such
as "sheeny" and "dago," we convince them that
they are held in contempt, and if by oppression
and fraud we render them suspicious of us, we
can easily compact them into masses, hostile to
us and dangerous to our institutions and or-
ganized for the express purpose of resisting all
Americanizing influences.

Whether immigrants remain Aliens or become
Americans depends less on them than on our-
selves.

JosiAH Strong.

New York, June 26, 1906.

We may well ask whether this insweep-
ing immigration is to foreignize us, or
we arc to Americanise it. Our safety
demands the assimilation of these strange
populations, and the process of assimila-
tion becomes slower and more difficult
as the proportion of foreigners increases.

— ^Josiah Strong.

THE ALIEN ADVANCE

"And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray thee,
open his eyes, that he may see. And Jehovah opened the
eyes of the young man: and he saw" (2 Kings vi. 17).
Elisha's prayer is peculiarly fitting now. The first
need of American Protestantism is for clear vision, to
discern the supreme issues involved in immigration,
recognize the spiritual significance and divine providence
in and behind this marvelous migration of peoples, and
so see Christian obligation as to rise to the mission of
evangelizing these representatives of all nations gathered
on American soil. — The Author.

Out of the remote and little-known regions of
northern, eastern, and southern Europe forever
marches a vast and endless army. Nondescript and
ever-changing in personnel, without leaders or organiza-
tion, this great force, moving at the rate of nearly
1,500,000 each year, is invading the civilized world.
— /. D. Whelpley.

Political optimism is one of the vices of the Ameri-
can people. There is a popular faith that "God takes
care of children, fools, and the United States." Until
within a few years probably not one in a hundred of
our population has ever questioned the security of our
future. Such optimism is as senseless as pessimism is
faithless. The one is as foolish as the other is wicked.
— Josiah Strong.

THE ALIEN ADVANCE

I. A Year's Immigration Analyzed

"\X7'HAT does a million of immigrants a year
mean? Possibly something of more sig-
nificance to us if we put it this way, that at
present one in every eighty persons in the entire
United States has arrived from foreign shores
within twelve months. Of this inpouring human
tide one of the latest writers on immigration says,
in a striking passage:

"Like a mighty stream, it finds its source in a
hundred rivulets. The huts of the mountains and
the hovels of the plains are the springs which
feed ; the fecundity of the races of the old world
the inexhaustible source. It is a march the like
of which the world has never seen, and the
moving columns are animated by but one idea —
that of escaping from evils which have made
existence intolerable, and of reaching the free air
of countries where conditions are better shaped
to the welfare of the masses of the people.

"It is a vast procession of varied humanity.
In tongue it is polyglot ; in dress all climes from

A Million
a Year

The Peaceful

Invasion

Variety of
Peoples

l8 Aliens or Americans?

pole to equator are indicated, and all religions
and beliefs enlist their followers. There is no
age limit, for young and old travel side by side.
There is no sex limitation, for the women are as
keen as, if not more so than, the men ; and babes
in arms are here in no mean numbers. The army
carries its equipment on its back, but in no pre-
scribed form. The allowance is meager, it is
true, but the household gods of a family sprung
from the same soil as a hundred previous genera-
tions may possibly be contained in shapeless bags
or bundles. Forever moving, always in the same
direction, this marching army comes out of the
shadow, converges to natural points of distribu-
tion, masses along the international highways,
and its vanguard disappears, absorbed where it
finds a resting-place."^
The Ellis See the living stream pour into America

Island Inflow through the raceway of Ellis Island.^ There is
no such sight to be seen elsewhere on the planet.
Suppose for the moment that all the immigrants
of 1905 came in by that wide open way, as eight
tenths of them actually did. If your station had
been by that gateway, where you could watch the
human tide flowing through, and if the stream
had been steady, on every day of the 365 you
would have seen more than 2,800 living beings —
men, women, and children, of almost every con-

' J. D. Whelpley, The Problem e/the Immigrant, 2.
* Entrance Port for Immigrants at New York.

The Alien Advance

ceivable condition except that of wealth or
eminence — pass from the examination "pens"
into the liberty of American opportunity. Since
the stream was spasmodic, its numbers did reach
as high in a single day as 11,343.

Imagine an army of nearly 20,000 a week a Motley
marching in upon an unprotected country. At Procession
the head come the motley and strange-looking
migrants — largely refugee Jews — from the far
Russian Empire and the regions of Hungary and
Roumania. At the daily rate of 2,800 it would
take this indescribable assortment more than 166
days to pass in single file. Then the Italians
would consume about eighty days more. For
over eight months you would have watched so
large a proportion of illiteracy, incompetency, and
insensibility to American ideals, that you would
be tempted to despair of the Republic. Nor
would you lose the sense of nightmare when the
English and Irish were consuming forty-two days
in passing, for the "green" of the Emerald Isle
is vivid at Ellis Island, and the best class of the
English stay at home. The flaxen-haired and
open-faced Scandinavians would lighten the pic-
ture, but with the equally sturdy Germans they
would get by in only a month and four days.

This much is certain, whatever may be thought a Process of
of the fanciful procession. No American who ^enf^*'""
spends a single day at Ellis Island, when the
loaded steamships have come in, will afterward

20 Aliens or Americans?

require awakening on the subject of immigration
and the necessity of doing something effective in
the way of Americanization. A good view of the
steerage is the best possible enlightener.
A Graphic A million a year and more is the rate at which

Grouping . .

immigrants are now coming into the United
States.^ It is not easy to grasp the significance
of such numbers : yet we must try to do so if we
are to realize the problem to be solved. To get
this mass of varied humanity within the mind's
eye, let us divide and group it. First, recall some
small city or town with which you are familiar, of
about 10,000 inhabitants ; say Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, where the treaty of peace between
Japan and Russia was agreed upon ; or Saratoga
Springs, New York ; or Vincennes, Indiana ; or
Ottawa, Illinois ; or Sioux Falls, South Dakota ;
or Lawrence, Kansas. Settle one hundred towns
of this size with immigrants, mostly of the
peasant class, with their un-American languages,
customs, religion, dress, and ideas, and you would
locate merely those who came from Europe and
Asia in the year ending June 30, 1905. Those
who came from other parts of the world would
make two and a half towns more, or a city the
size of Poughkeepsie in New York, seat of
Vassar College, or Burlington in Iowa, of about
25,000 each.

'The total hnrqigration into the United States for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1906, was 1,100,73s

The Alien Advance

Gather these immie:rants by nationahty, and Grouped by

, , , . ^ , , Nationality

you would have m round numbers twenty-two
Italian cities of 10,000 people, or massed to-
gether, a purely Italian city as large as Minne-
apolis with its 220,000. The various peoples of
Austria-Hungary — Bohemians, Magyars, Jews,
and Slavs — would fill twenty-seven and one half
towns ; or a single city nearly as large as Detroit.
The Jews, Poles, and other races fleeing from
persecution in Russia, would people eighteen
and one half towns, or a city the size of Provi-
dence. For the remainder we should have four
German cities of 10,000 people, six of Scandi-
navians, one of French, one of Greeks, one of
Japanese, six and a half of English, five of
Irish, and nearly two of Scotch and Welsh.
Then we should have six towns of between Queer Towns

, , , , , • < i these would b(

4,000 and 5,000 each, peopled respectively by
Belgians, Dutch, Portuguese, Roumanians,
Swiss, and European Turks ; while Asian Turks
would fill another town of 6,000. We should
have a Servian, Bulgarian, and Montenegrin
village of 2,000; a Spanish village of 2,600; a
Chinese village of 2,100; and the other Asiatics
would fill up a town of 5,000 with as motley an
assortment as could be found under the sky.
Nor are we done with the settling as yet, for the
West Indian immigrants would make a city of
16,600, the South Americans and Mexicans a
place of 5,000, the Canadians a 2,000 village, and

22 Aliens or Americans?

the Australians another; leaving a colony of
stragglers and strays, the ends of creation, to
the number of 2,000 more. Place yourself in
any one of these hundred odd cities or villages
thus peopled, without a single American inhabit-
ant, with everything foreign, including religion ;
then realize that just "such a foreign population
as is represented by all these places has actually
been put somewhere in this country within a
twelvemonth, and the immigration problem may
assume a new aspect and take on a new
concern.

Grouped by But let US Carry our imagination a little
niiteracy further. Suppose we bring together into one
place the illiterates of 1905 — the immigrants of
all nationalities, over fourteen years of age, who
could neither read nor write. They would make
a city as large as Jersey City or Kansas City,
and 15,000 larger than Indianapolis. Think of
a population of 230,000 with no use for book,
paper, ink, pen, or printing press. This mass
of dense ignorance was distributed some way
within a year, and more illiterates are coming in
by every steamer. Divide this city of ignorance
by nationalities into wards, and there would be
an Italian ward of 100,000, far outnumbering all
otliers ; in other words, the Italian illiterates
landed in America in a year equal the population
of Albany, capital of the Empire State. The
other leading wards would be: Polish, 33,000;

The Alien Advance

Hebrew, 22,000, indicating the low conditions
whence they came; Slav, 36,000; Magyar and
Lithuanian, 12,000; Syrian and Turkish, 3,000.
These regiments of non-readers and writers
come almost exclusively from the south and east )
of Europe. Of the large total of illiterates,
230,882 to be exact — it is noteworthy that only
seventy-five were Scotch ; and only 1 57 were
Scandinavian, out of the more than 60,000 from
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. That almost
one quarter of a total million of newcomers
should be unable to read or write is certainly a
fact to be taken into account, and one that
throws a calcium light on the general quality of
present-day immigration and the educational
status of the countries from which they come.
Illiteracy is a worse reflection upon the foreign
government than upon the foreign immigrant.

To complete this grouping, we should go one The Army of

.J- .1 J , •■ jr J- • • the Unskilled

step further, and make up a number of divisions
according to occupation and no-occupation,
skilled and unskilled labor. To begin with, the
unskilled laborers would fill a city of 430,000, or
about the size of Cincinnati. Those classified as
servants, with a fair question mark as to the
amount of skill possessed, numbered 125,000
more, equal to the population of New Haven.
Those classified as without occupation, including
the children under fourteen, numbered 232,000,
equal to the population of Louisville. Gathering

24 " Aliens or Americans?

into one great body, then, what may fairly be
called unskilled labor, the total is not far from
78o,cxx) out of the 1,026,499 who came. This
mass would fill a city the size of Boston, Cam-
bridge, and Lynn combined, or of Cleveland and
Washington. Imagine, if you can, what kind of
a city it would be, and contrast that with these
centers of civilization as they now are.
Whole States To put all the cmphasis possible upon these
Numbers'" facts, considcr that the immigration of a single
year exceeded by 26,000 the population of Con-
necticut, which has been settled and growing
ever since early colonial days. It exceeded by
37,000 the combined population of Alaska,
Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah.
These immigrants would have repopulated whole
commonwealths, but they would hardly be called
commonwealths in that case. If such immigrant
distribution could be made, how quickly would
the imperative necessity of Americanization be
realized. The Italians who came during the
year would exceed the combined population of
Alaska and Wyoming. The Hungarians and
Slavs would replace the present population of
New Hampshire, or of North Dakota, and equal
that of Vermont and Wyoming together. The
Russian Jews and Finlanders would replace the
people of Arizona. The army of illiterates would
repeople Delaware and Nevada. And the much
larger army of the unskilled would exceed by

The Alien Advance

50,000 the population of Maine, that of Colorado
by about 80,000, and twice that of the District of
Columbia.

The diagram at the end of the book, taken The Race
from the Report of the Commissioner-General P~P°"i«>°»
of Immigration for 1905, will help us to fix in
mind the race proportions of the present immi-
gration. The increase of 1905 over 1904 was
213,629. Almost one half of this was from
Austria-Hungary, and all of it was from four
countries, the other three being Russia, Italy,
and the United Kingdom. There was a decrease
from Germany, Sweden, and Norway.

//. The Inflozv Since 1820
We have been considering thus far the immi- immigration
gration of a single year. To make the effect Totals since
of this survey cumulative, let us include the
totals of immigration from the first.^ The
official records begin with 1820. It is estimated
that prior to that date the total number of alien
arrivals was 250,000. In 1820 there M^ere 8,385
newcomers, less than sometimes land at Ellis
Island in a single day now, and they came chiefly
from three nations — Great Britain, Germany,
and Sweden. The stream gradually increased,
but with many fluctuations, governed largely by
the economic conditions. The highest immi-
gration prior to the potato famine in Ireland in

' For table showing immigration for each year from 1820 to 1905, see
Appendix A.

26 Aliens or Americans?

1847 was in the year 1842, when the total for the
first time passed the 100,000 mark, being 104,565.
In 1849 the number leaped to 297,024, with a
large proportion of the whole from Ireland; in
1850 it was 310,000; while 1854 was the high
year of that period, with 427,833. Then came the
panic and financial depression in America, and
after that the civil war, which sent the immigra-
tion figures down. It was not until 1866, af tee-
the war was over, that the total again rose to
300,000. In 1872 it was 404,806; in 1873, 459,-
803 ; falling back then until 1880, when a high
period set in. The totals of 1881 (669,431) and
of 1882 (788,992) were not again equaled until

1903, when for the first time the 800,000 mark
was passed.

Taking the figures by decades, we have this
enlightening table :

1821 to 1830 143.439

1831 to 1840 599.125

1841 to 1850 1,713.251

1851 to i860 2,598,214

1861 to 1870 2,314,824

1871 to 1880 2,812,191

1881 to 1890 5,246,613

1891 to 1900 3.687,564

1901 to 1905 3,833,076

Total, 1821 to 1905 22,948,297

From this it appears that more aliens landed
in the single decade from 1880 to 1890 than in

The Alien Advance

the period of forty-five years from 1820 to 1865.
Indeed, the immigration of the past six years
more than outnumbers that of the forty years
from 1820 to i860.

Thus, from colonial days above twenty-three
millions of aliens have been received upon these
hospitable shores. And more than thirteen
millions of them have come since 1880, or in the
last quarter century. No wonder it is said that
the invasion of Attila and his Huns was but a
side incident compared to this modern migration
of the millions.

Canada, our northern neighbor, is a prosper-
ous colony of 5,371,315, according to her latest
census. We could almost have peopled Canada
entire with as large a population out of the immi-
gration of the decade 1880-1890. More than
that, the whole population of Scotland, or that of
Ireland, above four and a quarter millions, could
have moved over to America, and it would only
have equaled the actual immigration since 1900.
If the whole of Wales were to come over, the
1,700,000 odd of them would not have equaled
by 100,000 the total immigration of the two years
1904-05. If all Sweden and Norway packed up
and left the question of one or two kingdoms to
settle itself, the 7,300,000 sturdy Scandinavians
would fall short of the immigrant host that has
come in from everywhither since 1891. More
people than the entire population of Switzerland

A Startling
Total of
33,000,000

Impressive
Comparisons

Aliens or Americans?

(3,315,000) have landed in America within four
years. If only the majority of these aliens had
possessed the love of liberty and the character-
istic virtues of the Protestant Swiss, our problem
would be very different. These comparisons
strongly impress the responsibility and burden
imposed upon America by practically free and
wide-open gates.
The Problem Here are the totals which we have now
tion^"""'*"' reached. Of the 23,000,000 aliens who have
come into America since the Revolution, the last
census (1900) gave the number then living at
10,256,664. A census taken to-day would doubt-
less show about 14,000,000. Add the children
of foreign parentage and it would bring the
total up to between 35,000,000 and 40,000,000.
Mr. Sargent estimates this total at forty-six per
cent, of our entire population. The immigration
problem presents nothing less than the assimila-
tion of this vast mass of humanity. No wonder
thoughtful Americans stand aghast before it.
At the same time, the only thing to fear is fail-
ure to understand the situation and meet it. As
Professor Boyesen says : "The amazing thing in
Americans is their utter indifference or supine
optimism. 'Don't you worry, old fellow,' said a
very intelligent professional man to me recently,
when I told him of my observations during a visit
to Castle Garden. 1 'What does it matter whether

'Now known as the Battery, See footnote j, p. 54.

The Alien Advance

a hundred thousand more or less arrive? Even
if a million arrived annually, or two millions, I
guess we could take care of them. Why, this
country is capable of supporting a population
of two hundred millions without being half so
densely populated as Belgium. Only let them

I come — the more the merrier !' I believe this
state of mind is fairly typical. It is the sublime
but dangerous optimism of a race which has
never been confronted with serious problems."
But we believe it is the optimism of a race which,
when fairly brought face to face with crises,

I will not fail to meet them in the same spirit that
has won the victories of civil and religious liberty
and established a free government of, by, and for

i the people in America.

] ///. Why They Come

j The causes of immigration are variously The causes of
stated, but compressed into three words they i™™'ffratioo
are: Attraction, Expulsion, Solicitation. The
attraction comes from the United States, the
expulsion from the Old World, and the solicita-
tion from the great transportation lines and their
emissaries. Sometimes one cause is more potent,
sometimes another. Of late, racial and religious
persecution has been active in Europe, and
America gets the results. "In Russia there is an
outbreak, hideous and savage, against the Jew,
and an impulse is started whose end is not

30 Aliens or Americans?

Expulsion reached until you strike Rivington Street in the
ghetto of New York. The work begun in Russia
ends in the seventeenth ward of New York."
Cause and effect are manifest. Military service
is enforced in Italy ; taxes rise, overpopulation
crowds, poverty pinches. As a result, the stream
flows toward America, where there is no military'
service and no tax, and where steady work and

Attraction high wages seem assured. The mighty magnet
is the attractiveness of America, real or pictured.
America is the magic word throughout all
Europe. No hamlet so remote that the name has
not penetrated its peasant obscurity. America
means two things — money and liberty — the two
things which the European peasant (and often
prince as well) lacks and wants. Necessity at
home pushes ; opportunity in America pulls.
Commissioner Robert Watchom, of the port of
New York, packs the explanation into an epi-
gram : "American wages are the honey-pot that
brings the alien flies." He says further: "If a
steel mill were to start in a Mississippi swamp
paying wages of $2 a day, the news would hum
through foreign lands in a month, and that
swamp would become a beehive of humanity and
industry in an incredibly short space of time."
Dr. A. F. Schauffler says, with equal pith, that
"the great cause of immigration is, after all, that
the immigrants propose to better themselves in
this country. They come here not because they

The Alien Advance

love us, or because we love them. They come
here because they can do themselves good, not
because they can do us good."^ That is natural
and true ; and it furnishes excellent reason why
we must do them good in order that they may not
do us evil. To make their good ours and our
good theirs is both Christian and safe.

The three causes produce three classes of Three classes
immigrants: i. Natural; 2. Assisted; and 3.
Solicited.

The prosperity of this country has undoubtedly Normal
chiefly influenced immigration in the past. This condltTons**
is shown by the marked relationship between
industrial and commercial activity in the United
States and the volume of immigration.^ Our
prosperity not only induces desire to come but
makes coming possible. The testimony before
the Industrial Commission showed that from
forty to forty-five per cent, of the immigrants
have their passage prepaid by friends or relatives
in this country, and from ten to twenty-five per
cent, more buy their tickets abroad with money
sent from the United States. In 1902 between
$65,000,000 and $70,000,000 was sent home to
Italy alone from the United States, and the
stream of earnings flowing out to Ireland and

' City Mission Monthly, April, iqoz.

^Those who are interested in this feature can trace — ^by examining the
table in the Appendix which gives the immigration by years since 1820—
the relation between prosperity and immigration. The effect of the
panics of 1837, 1843, 1873, i8q3, and the depression caused by the Civil
War, will be seen clearly in the immigration totals. This subject is
treated in Immigration, 17 ff.

The Alien Advance

Germany and Sweden and Hungary has been
not less steady. American prosperity has been
feeding and paying taxes for millions of people
who owe far more to our government than to
their own, and foreign governments have been
reaping the benefit. The United States has a
small standing army of its own, but through the
gold sent abroad by the alien wage earners here
we have been helping maintain the vast arma-
ments of Europe. The letters and the money
sent by immigrants to the home folks awaken the
desires and dreams that mean more immigrants.
The United States Post-office is a marvelous
immigration agent in Europe. Immigrants are
not the only persons induced to migrate through
the feeling that where one is not will prove a
much better place than where one is. That seems
to inhere in human nature.

"Not only the American money and letters, but Amencaa
the American ideas are at work abroad," says the ^"^^^^
Rev. F. M. Goodchild, D.D.,^ in a recent address :
"The praises of America are told abroad by
every person who comes here and gets along.
Some things to be sure, these people miss — the
blue skies of Italy and the vineyards on the hill-
side. But they have for them the compensation
of such a liberty as they never knew before. The
real reason why all southern Europe is in a tur-
moil to-day, is that American ideas of liberty are

'Published in Bafitist Home Mission Monthly for July, 1906.

34 Aliens or Americans?

working there like leaven. We get our notions
of liberty from the Bibl^ and from the men who
forced the Magna Charta from King John at
Runnymede, but all other peoples in the world
seem to be getting their ideas of liberty from us.
That is what is the matter with the Old World

The American to-day. The American idea is working like leaven.

'■^"^ That is the force at work in France, where abso-

lute divorce has just been proclaimed between
Church and State. That is at the bottom of the
movements in Russia, where the Stundists have
just won religious liberty, and where, let us hope,
all classes of people ere long will have won com-
plete civil liberty. These people have felt the
uplift of our American free institutions and they
want them for themselves. They have heard
'Yankee Doodle,' and the 'Star Spangled Ban-
ner,' and 'My Country, 'tis of Thee,' and they
cannot get the music of liberty out of their ears
and their hearts. Broughton Brandenburg tells
us that he heard some Italians who had been in
America singing our classic song 'Mr. Dooley'
in the vineyards near Naples."

IV. What the Immigrants Say

Personal Let thc immigrants themselves tell why they
come. These testimonies are typical, condensed
from a most interesting volume of
autobiography,^ fresh and illuminating.

* Hamilton Holt, Undistinguished Americans.

Testimony

The Alien Advance

A German nvirse girl says : "I heard about how ^ German
easy it was to make money in America and
became very anxious to go there. I was restless
in my home ; mother seemed so stern and could
not understand that I wanted amusement. I
sailed from Antwerp, the fare costing $35. My
second eldest sister met me with her husband at
Ellis Island and they were glad to see me and I
went to live with them in their flat in West
Thirty-fourth Street, New York. A week later
I was an apprentice in a Sixth Avenue millinery
store earning four dollars a week. I only paid
three for board, and was soon earning extra
money by making- dresses and hats at home."
Friends in Germany would be sure to hear of this
new condition.

Why do the Poles come? A Polish sweat-shop A Pole
girl, telling her life story, answers. The father
died, then troubles began in the home in Poland.
Little was needed by the widow and her child,
but even soup, black bread, and onions they could
not always get. At thirteen the girl was handy at
housekeeping, but the rent fell behind, and the
mother decided to leave Poland for America,
where, "we heard, it was much easier to make
money. Mother wrote to Aunt Fanny, who lived
in New York, and told her how hard it was to
live in Poland, and Aunt Fanny advised her to
come and bring me." Thousands could tell a
similar story to that. "Easier to make money"

Aliens or Americans?

has allured multitudes to leave the old home and
land.

A Russian A Lithuanian (Russian) tells how it was the
tra\'eling shoemaker that made him want to come
to America. This shoenuker learned all the
news, and smuggled newspapers across the Ger-
man line, and he told the boy's parents how
wrong it was to shut him out of education and
liberty by keeping him at home. "That boy must
go to America." he said one night. "My son is
in tlie stock>"ards in Oiicago." These were some
of his reasons for going: "You can read free
papers and prayer books : you can ha\'e free
meetings, and talk out what you think." And
more precious far, you can have "life, liberty,
and the getting of happiness." When time for
military sernce drew near, these arguments for
America prevailed and tlie boy was smuggled
out of his native land. "It is against the law to
sell tickets to America, but my father saw the
secret agent in tlie \-illage and he got a ticket
from Gemiany and found us a guide. I had
bread and cheese and vodka (liquor "4 and clothes
in my bag. My father gave me $50 besides my
ticket." Bribery did die rest, and thus this immi-
grant obtained his liberty" and chance in America.
The American idea is leavening Russia surely
enough.

An Italian Italian bootblack who already owns se\-eral

bootblacking establishments in this country, was

The Alien Advance

trained to a beggar's life in Italy, and ran away.
"Now and then I had heard things about America
— that it was a far-off country where everybody
was rich and that Italians went there and made
plenty of money, so that they could return to
Italy and live in pleasure ever after." He worked
his passage as a coaler, and was passed at Ellis
Island through the perjury of one of the bosses
who wring money out of tlie immigrants in the
way of commissions, getting control of them by
the criminal act at the very entrance into
American life.

A Greek peddler, a graduate of the high
school at Sparta — think of a modern high school
in ancient Sparta ! — after two years in the army,
was ready for life. "All these later years I had
been hearing from America. An elder brother
was there who had found it a fine country and
was urging me to join him. Fortunes could
easily be made, he said. I got a great desire to
see it, and in one way and another I raised the
money for fare — 250 francs — ($50) and set sail
from the old port of Athens. I got ashore with-
out any trouble in New York, and got work
immediately as a pushcart man. Six of us lived
together in two rooms down on Washington
Street. At the end of our day's work we all
divided up our money even; we were all free."

A Swedish farmer says : "A man who had a Swede
been living in America once came to visit the

38 Aliens or Americans?

little village near our cottage. He wore gold
rings set with jewels and had a fine watch. He
said that food was cheap in America and that a
man could earn nearly ten times as much there
as in Sweden. There seemed to be no end to his
money." Sickness came, with only black bread
and a sort of potato soup or gruel for food, and
at last it was decided that the older brother was
to go to America. The first letter from him con-
tained this : "I have work with a farmer who pays
me sixty-four kroner^ a month and my board. I
send you twenty kroner, and will try to send
that every month. This is a good country.
All about me are Swedes, who have taken
farms and are getting rich. They eat white
bread and plenty of meat. One farmer, a Swede,
made more than 25,000 kroner on his crop last
year. The people here do not work such long
hours as in Sweden, but they work much harder,
and they have a great deal of machinery, so that
the crop one farmer gathers will fill two big
bams."

An Irish An Irish cook, one of "sivin childher," had a
Woman gistcr Tilly, who emigrated to Philadelphia,
started as a greenhorn at $2 a week, learned to
cook and bake and wash, all American fashion,
and before a year was gone had money enough
laid up to send for the teller of the story. The
two gradually brought over the whole family.

The Swedish krone (kro-ne) has a value of about 27 cents.

The Alien Advance

and Joseph owns a big flour store and Phil is a
broker, while his son is in politics and the city
council, and his daughter Ann (she calls herself
Antoinette now) is engaged to a lawyer in New
York. That is America's attractiveness and
opportunity and transformation in a nutshell.

A Syrian, born on the Lebanon range, went Foreign
to an American mission school at fifteen, learned schoo°^
much that his former teacher the friar had cause of
warned him against, had his horizon broadened, "''""^''^^
gave up his idea of becoming a Maronite monk
when he learned that there were other great
countries beside Syria, and had all his old ideas
overthrown by an encyclopedia which said the
United States was a larger and richer country
than Syria or even Turkey. The friar was angry
and said the book told lies, and so did the patri-
arch, who was scandalized to think such a book
should come to Mount Lebanon ; but the Ameri-
can teacher said the encyclopedia was written
by men who knew, and the Syrian boy finally
decided to go to the United States, where "we
had heard that poor people were not oppressed."
His mother and uncle came, too, and as the boy
was a good penman he secured work without
difficulty in an Oriental goods store. As for his
former religious teaching he says : "The Ameri-
can teacher never talked to me about religion ;
but I can see that those monks and priests are
the curse of our country, keeping the people in

Aliens or Americans?

ignorance and grinding the faces of the poor,
while pretending to be their friends." In his
case it was the foreign mission school that was
the magnet to America.

\ Japanese A Japanese says : "The desire to see America
was burning in my boyish heart. The land of
freedom and civilization of which I had heard
so much from missionaries and the wonderful
story of America I had heard from those of my
race who returned from there made my longing
ungovernable." A popular novel among Japan-
ese boys, "The Adventurous Life of Tsurukichi
Tanaka, Japanese Robinson Crusoe," made a
strong impression upon him, and finally he
decided to come to this country to receive an
American education.

A Chinese A representative Chinese business man of New
York was taught in childhood that the English
and Americans were foreign devils, the latter
false, because having made a treaty by which
they could freely come to China and Chinese as
freely go to America, they had broken the treaty
and shut the Chinese out. When he was six-
teen, working on a farm, a man of his tribe came
back from America "and took ground as large
as four city blocks and made a paradise of it."
He had gone away a poor boy, now he returned
with unlimited wealth, "which he had obtained
in the country of the American wizards. He had
become a merchant in a city called Mott Street,

The Alien Advance

so it was said. The wealth of this man filled
my mind with the idea that I, too, would go
to the country of the wizards and gain some
of their wealth." Landing in San Francisco,
before the exclusion act, he started in American
life as a house servant, but finally became a
Mott Street merchant, as he had intended from
the first.

Thus we have gone the rounds of immi- Fo^^ne and

Freedom

grants of various races. The two ideas —
fortune and freedom — lie at the basis of immi-
gration, although the money comes first in
nearly all cases. These testimonies could be
multiplied indefinitely. Ask the first immi-
grant you can talk with what brought him,
and find out for yourself. Mr. Brandenburg says
a Greek who was being deported told him that all
Greece was stirred up over the matter of emigra-
tion, and that in five years the number of Greeks
coming to the United States would have increased
a thousand per cent.^ The reasons are the too
onerous military duties in Greece and prosperity
of Greeks in America. The remittances fired
the zeal of the home people to follow, and the
candymakers' shops were full of apprentices,
because the idea had gone abroad that candy-
makers could easily gain a fortune in America.

From these illustrations, it can readily be seen showing only
how widespread is the knowledge of America as ^^'esnghtside

Broughton Brandenburg, Imfiorled Americans, 37.

Aliens or Americans?

a desirable place. The other side is rarely told
and that is the pitiful side of it. The stories that
go back are always of the fortunes, not of the
misfortunes, of the money and not of the miser}^

V. Solicitation an Evil

If immigration were left to the natural causes,
there would be little reason for apprehension. It
is in the solicited and assisted immigration that the
worst element is found. Commercial greed lies
at the root of this, as of most of the evils which
afflict us as a nation. The great steamship lines
have made it cheaper to emigrate than to stay at
home, in many cases ; and every kind of illegal
inducement and deceit and allurement has been
employed to secure a full steerage. The ramifi-
cations of this transportation system are wonder-
ful. It has a direct bearing, too, upon the
character of the immigrants. Easy and cheap
transportation involves deterioration in quality.
In the days when a journey across the Atlantic
was a matter of weeks or months and of consid-
erable outlay, only the most enterprising, thrifty,
and venturesome were ready to try an uncertain
future in an unknown land. The immigrant of
those days was likely, therefore, to be of the
sturdiest and best type, and his coming increased
the general prosperity without lowering the moral
tone. Now that the ocean has become little more
than a ferry, and the rates of railway and steam-

The Alien Advance

ship have been so reduced, it is the least thrifty
and prosperous members of their communities
that fall readiest prey to the emigration agent.

Assisted immigration is the term used to cover Assisted
cases where a foreign government has eased i"""'eration
itself of part of the burden of its paupers, insane, ^
dependents, and delinquents by shipping them to
the United States. This was not uncommon in ^
the nineteenth century, especially in the case of
local and municipal governments. Our laws were
lax, and for a time nearly everybody, sane
or insane, sound or diseased, was passed. The
financial gain to the exporting government can i
be seen in the fact that it costs about $150 per
head a year to support dependents and delinquents
in this country, while it would not cost the foreign j
authorities more than $50 to transport them
hither. This policy seems scarcely credible, but
Switzerland, Great Britain, and Ireland followed
it thriftily until our laws put a stop to it, in large
part, by returning these undesirable persons I
whence they came, at the expense of the steam-
ship companies bringing them. It was not until
1882, however, that our government passed laws
for self -protection, and in 189 1 another law made
"assisted" immigrants a special class not to be
admitted.

Other and incidental causes there are, such as other causes
the influence of new machinery, opening the ^
way for more unskilled labor, such as the ordi-

44 Aliens or Americans?

nary immigrant has to sell ; the protective tariff,
which shuts out foreign goods and brings in the
foreign producers of the excluded goods ; the
thorough advertising abroad of American advan-
tages by boards of agriculture and railway com-
panies interested in building up communities ;
and a fear of restrictive legislation. But undoubt-
edly, ever back of all other reasons is the convic-
tion that America is the land of plenty and of
liberty — a word which each interprets according
to his light or his liking.
The Christian Having thus considered the remarkable propor-
Attitude tions of immigration, and the causes of it, it will
be well at this point to say a cautionary word as
to the attitude of mind and heart in which this
subject should be approached. Impartiality is
necessary but difficult. There is a natural preju-
dice against the immigrant. A Christian woman,
of ordinarily gentle and sweet temper, was heard
to say recently, while this very subject of Chris-
tian duty to the immigrant was under discussion
at a missionary conference: "I hate these dis-
gusting foreigners ; they are spoiling our
country." Doubtless many would sympathize
with her. This is not uncommon prejudice or
feeling, and argument against it is of little avail.
Nevertheless, as Christians we must endeavor to
divest ourselves of it. We must recognize the
brotherhood of man and the value of the individ-
ual soul as taught by Jesus. It may aid us, per-

The Alien Advance

haps, if we remember that we are all — with the
exception of the Indians, who may lay claim to
aboriginal heritage — in a sense descendants of
immigrants. At the same time, it is essential to
draw a clear distinction between colonists and
immigrants. Colonization, with its attendant colonists and
hardships and heroisms, steadily advanced from immierants
its beginnings in New England, New Amsterdam,
and Virginia, until there resulted the founding
of a free and independent nation, with popular
government and fixed religious principles, includ-
ing the vital ones of religious liberty and the right
of the individual conscience. In other words,
colonization created a nation ; and there had to
be a nation before there could be immigration to
it. "In discussing the immigration question,"
says Mr. Hall, "this distinction is important,"
for it does not follow that, because, as against
the native Indians, all comers might be con-
sidered as intruders and equally without claim
of right, those who have built up a complicated
framework of nationality have no rights as
against others who seek to enjoy the benefits of
national life without having contributed to its
creation."^

It ought clearly to be recognized that the colonist and
colonists and their descendants have sacred

Rights

rights, civil and religious, with which aliens
should not be permitted to interfere ; and that

* Prescott F. Hall, Immigration, 3, 4.

Aliens or Americans?

Sympathetic
and Open
Mind

}

The Personal
Responsibility

these rights include all proper and necessary leg-
islation for the preservation of the liberties, laws,
institutions, and principles established by the
founders of the Republic and those rights of
citizenship guaranteed under the constitution
If restriction of immigration becomes necessary
in order to safeguard America, the American
people have a clear right to pass restrictive or
even prohibitory laws. In other words, America
does not belong equally to everybody. The
American has rights which the alien must become
American to acquire.

At the same time, our attitude toward the
alien should be sympathetic, and our minds
should be open and inquiring as we study the
incoming multitudes. We do not wish to raise
the Russian cry, "Russia for the Russians," or
the Chinese shibboleth, "China for the Chinese."
The Christian spirit has been compressed into the
epigram, "Not America for Americans, but
Americans for America." We must see to it
that the immigrants do not remain aliens, but
are transformed into Christian Americans. That
is the true missionary end for which we are to
work; and it is in order that we may w^ork
intelligently and effectively that we seek to famil-
iarize ourselves with the facts.

The facts already brought out are surely suf-
ficient to arrest attention. Suppose this million-
a-year rate should continue for a decade — and

The Alien Advance

there is every reason to believe it - will, unless
unusual and unlikely restrictive measures are
taken by our government. That would mean ten
millions more added, and probably seventy per
cent, of them from southeastern Europe. Add
the natural increase, and estimate what the
result of these millions would be upon the
national digestion. Politically, the foreign ele-
ment would naturally and inevitably assume the
place which a majority can claim in a democracy,
and not only claim but maintain, by the use of
votes — a use which the immigrant learns full
soon from the manipulators of parties. Reli-
giously, unless' a great change should come over
the spirit of American Protestantism, and the
work of evangelization among foreigners be con-
ducted along quite different lines from the pres-
ent, is it not plain that our country would cease
to be Christian America, as we understand the
term? There is enough in these questions to set
and keep the patriotic American thinking.

The personal inquiry for each one to make is,
"As an American and a Christian, have these
facts and queries any special message for me,
and have I any direct responsibility in relation
to them ?"

48 Aliens or Americans?

SUGGESTIONS FOR USING THE QUESTIONS

These questions have been prepared to suggest to the
leader and student the most important points in the
chapter, and to stimulate further meditation and
thought. Those marked * should encourage discussion.
The leader is not expected to use all of these questions,
and should use his judgment in eliminating or adding
others that are in harmony with the aim of the lesson.
For helps for conducting each class session, the leader
should not fail to write to the Secretary of his Home
Missionary Board.

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER I

Aim : To Realize Our Responsibility in Receiving
One Million Aliens a Year

I. To Learn by Comparison the Magnitude of a Million
Aliens.

1. At what rate per annum is our population now
being increased by immigration?

2. What are the sources of this invasion? Its
principal gateway?

3. What comparison helps you most to realize the
number of immigrants?

4. What are some of the largest groups in the
mass, as classified by nationality? By race?
By knowledge or ignorance? By fitness for
labor ?

5. What states may be compared with last year's
arrivals ?

II. To Realize the Proportion of Our Population that
has I mmigrated since 1820.

6. How does the total number of our immigrants
compare with the population of Germany?
England ? Canada ?

The Alien Advance

7. Has the number of immigrants been increasing
steadily? Will it tend to increase?

8. Has the present rate been long continued?
What proportion of the population of the
United States is derived from immigration
subsequent to the American Revolution ?

9. * Do you think there is any serious menace

in such large numbers of immigrants? Why?

ni. Why do Aliens Come?

10. Name the principal causes of immigration.
The principal classes.

11. What American ideals have the greatest attrac-
tive power? What opportunities?

12. Give some typical instances of immigrants'
stories. *Would you have wished to come
under the same circumstances ?

13. What other forces stimulate immigration to
the United States? What agencies?

IV. What Should he our Attitude toward Aliens, and
What is our Individual Responsibility for Them?

14. * What is the Christian attitude toward these

newcomers? How can we remove prejudice?

15. * What is our personal responsibility as Chris-

tians in improving the condition of aliens?

References for Advanced Study. — Chapter I

I. Compare modern immigration with the migration
of peoples in earlier times ; for example, those
of the Hebrews, Aryans, Goths, Huns, Saracens,
and other races.

Any good Encyclopedia or General History.

Aliens or Americans?

II. What resemblances and what differences between
the Colonial settlement of America, and the later
immigration, say, during the Nineteenth Century?

III. The Causes of Immigration.
Hall: Immigration, II.

Lord, et al: The Italian in America, III, VIII.
Warne: The Slav Invasion, III, IV; 78, 83.
Holt: Undistinguished Americans, 35, 244-250.

IV. What agencies can you name and describe that
are trj-ing to receive the immigrants in a humane
and Christian spirit? For example, the United
States Government, American Tract Society, Xew
York Bible Society, Society for Italian Immi-
grants, and other organizations and agencies.
Study especially any that work in your own
neighborhood.

As for immigrants, we cannot have
too many of the right kind, and we
should have none of the wrong kind.
I will go as far as any in regard to
restricting undesirable immigration. I
do not think that any immigrant who will
lower the standard of life among our
people should be admitted. — President
Roosevelt.

ALIEN ADMISSION AND RESTRICTION

Unrestricted immigration is doing much to cause
deterioration in the quality of American citizenship.
Let us resolve that America shall be neither a hermit
nation nor a Botany Bay. Let us make our land a home
for the oppressed of all nations, but not a dumping-
ground for the criminals, the paupers, the cripples, and
the illiterate of the world. Let our Republic, in its
crowded and hazardous future, adopt these watch-
words, to be made good all along our oceanic and con-
tinental borders : "Welcome for the worthy, protection
to the patriotic, but no shelter in America for those
who would destroy the American shelter itself." — Joseph
Cook.

It is not the migration of a few thousand or even
million human beings from one part of the world to
another nor their good or bad fortune that is of interest
to us. We are concerned with the effect of such a
movement on the community at large and its growth in
civilization. Immigration, for instance, means the con-
stant infusion of new blood into the American common-
wealth, and the question is : WTiat effect will this new
blood have upon the character of the community? —
Professor Mayo-Smith.

It is advisable to study the influence of the new-
comers on the ethical consciousness of the communitj' —
whether there is a gain or a loss to us. In short, we
must set up our standard of what we desire this nation
to be, and then consider whether the policy we have
hitherto pursued in regard to immigration is calculated
to maintain that standard or to endanger it. — Idem.

ALIEN ADMISSION AND RESTRICTION

/. Method of Admission

J-J OW do immigrants obtain entrance into the chief Ports

United States ? New York is the chief °^ ^"*''y
port of entry, and if we learn the conditions
and methods there we shall know them in gen-
eral. The great proportion coming through
New York is seen by comparison of the total
admissions for 1904 and 1905 at the larger ports:

Port

1904

190S

New York

788,219

Boston

60,278

65,107

Baltimore

• • • • 55,940

62,314

Philadelphia

.... 19,467

23,824

Honolulu

.... 9,054

11,997

9,036

6,377

Other Ports

24,447

Through Canada , , , ,

• • . . 30,374

44,214

The proportion for New York is not far from The Floating
eight tenths of the whole. Hence it is true, that Gateway
while the "dirty little ferryboat John G. Carlisle is
not an imposing object to the material eye, to the
eye of the imagination she is a spectacle to inspire
awe, for she is the floating gateway of the

54 Aliens or Americans?

Republic. Over her dingy decks march in end-
less succession the eager battalions of Europe's
peaceful invaders of the West. That single
craft, in her hourly trips from Ellis Island to the
Battery,^ carries more immigrants in a year than
came over in all tlie fleets of the nations in the
two centuries after John Smith landed at James-
town.

Human Reading about the arrivals at Ellis Island, no
Reservoirs ^natter how rcalistic the description, will not give
a vivid idea of what immigration means nor of
what sort the immigrants are. For that, you
must obtain a permit from the authorities and
actually see for yourself the human stream that
pours from the steerage of the mighty steamships
into the huge human storage reservoirs of Ellis
Island.3 \Xe know that however perfect the
system, human nature has to be taken into
account, both in officials and immigrants,
and human nature is imperfect ; much of it at

'The park and piers at the southern end of New York City,
formeriy known as Castle Garden.

'Samuel E. Moffett, Review of Reviews, July, 1903.

'It is good to know that the reception conditions, so far as the
Government is concerned, have been made as favorable as present
accommodations will allow, and enlargement is already projected.
Since the Federal Government finally took charge of immigration
in 1882, great improvement has been made in method and adminis-
tration. The inspection is humane, prompt, and on the whole
kindly, although entrance examinations are as much dreaded by
the average imminent as by the average student. Commissioner
Watchom, an admirable man for his place, insists upon kindness, and
want of it in an employee is cause for dismissal. Ellis Island aSords
an excellent example of carefully adjusted details and thorough
system, whereby with least possible friction thousands of aliens
are examined in a day, and pronounced fit or unfit to enter the
country- The process is too rapid, however, to give each case the
attention which the best interests of the country demand.

Alien Admission and Restriction 55

Ellis Island is exceedingly difficult to deal
patiently with. Hence, from the very nature of
things and men, the situation is one to develop
pathos, humor, comedy, and tragedy, as the
great "human sifting machine" works away at
separating the wheat from the chaff. The
tragedy comes in the case of the excluded, since
the blow falls sometimes between parents and
children, husband and wife, lover and sweetheart,
and the decree of exclusion is as bitter as death.

To make the manner and method of getting
into America by the steerage process as real as
possible, try to put yourself in an alien's place,
and see what you would have to go through.
Do not take immigration at its worst, but rather
at its best, or at least above the average condi-
tions. Assume that you belong to the more intel-
ligent and desirable class, finding a legitimate
reason for leaving your home in Europe, because
of hard conditions and poor outlook there and
bright visions of fortune in the land of liberty,
whither relatives have preceded you. Your
steamship ticket is bought in your native town,
and }'ou have no care concerning fare or bag-
gage, A number of people of your race and
neighborhood are on the way, so that you are
not alone.

Before embarking you are made to answer a
long Hst of questions, filling out your "mani-
fest," or official record which the law requires

Make Yourself
an Imaginary
Immigrant

The Ship's
Manifest

Aliens or Americans?

Numbered and
Lettered

The Voyage

First Exper-
iences in the
New World

the vessel-masters to obtain, attest, and deliver
to the government officers at the entrance port.'^
Your answers proving satisfactory to the trans-
portation agents, a card is furnished you, con-
taining your name, the letter of the group of
thirty to which you are assigned, and your group
number. Thus you become, for the time being,
No. 27 of group E. You are cautioned to keep
this card in sight, as a ready means of identi-
fication.

Partings over, you enter upon the strange and
unforgetable experiences of ten days or more
in the necessarily cramped quarters of the steer-
age— experiences of a kind that do not invite
repetition. Homesickness and seasickness form
a trying combination, to say nothing of the
discomforts of a mixed company and enforced
companionship.

Your first American experience befalls you
when the steamship anchors at quarantine inside

'Under the Act of 1903, this manifest has to state: The full name,
age and sex; whether married or single; the calling; or occupation;
whether able to read or write; the nationality; the race; the last
residence; the seaport landint; in the United States; the final destina-
tion, if any, beyond the port of landing; whether havins; a ticket
through to ;uch final destination; whether the alien has paid his own
passage or whether it has been paid by any other person or by any
corporation, society, municipality, or government, and if so, by
whom; whether in possession of thirty dollars, and if less, how much;
whether goinq to join a relative or friend and if so, what relative or
friend, and his name and complete address; whether ever before
in the United States, and if so. when and where; whether ever in
prison or almshouse or an institution or hospital for the care and
treatment of the insane or supported by charity; whether a polyga-
mist; whether an anarchist; whether comin;; by reason of any offer,
solicitation, promise, or acrreement. expressed or implied, to perform
labor in the United States, and what is the alien's condition of health,
mental and physical, and whether deformed or crippled, and if so,
for how long and fron^ "-hit cause.

Alien Admission and Restriction 57

Sandy Hook, and the United States inspec-
tion officers come on board to hunt for infectious
or contagious diseases — cholera, smallpox, typhus
fever, yellow fever, or plague. No outbreak of
any of these has marked the voyage, fortunately
for you, and there is no long delay. Slowly the
great vessel pushes its way up the harbor and the
North River, passing the statue of Liberty
Enlightening the World, that beacon which all
incomers are enjoined to see as the symbol of the
new liberty they hope to enjoy. —

At last the voyage is done, your steamship lies ship Landing
at her pier, and you are thrust into the midst
of distractions. Families are trying to keep
together ; the din is indescribable ; crying babies
add to the general confusion of tongues ; all sorts
of people with all sorts of baggage are making
ready for the landing, which seems a long time
off as you wait for the customs officers to get
through with the first-class passengers. At last
word is given to go ashore, and the procession or
pushing movement rather begins. You are hur-
ried along, up a companionway, lugging your
hand baggage ; then down the long gangway on
to the pier and the soil of America.

It is not a pleasant landing in the land of light Unnecessary
and liberty. You have been sworn at, pushed, '-""'"y
punched with a stick for not moving faster
when you could not, and have seen others
treated much more roughly. Just in front of you

58 Aliens or Americans?

a poor woman is trying to get up the companion-
way with a child in one arm, a deck chair on the
other, and a large bundle besides. She blocks the
passage for an instant. A great burly steward
reaches up, drags her down, tears the chair off
her arm, splitting her sleeve and scraping the
skin off her wrist as he does so, and then in his
rage breaks the chair to pieces, while the woman
passes on sobbing, not daring to remonstrate.^
This is not the first treatment of this sort you
have seen, and you feel powerless to help, though
your blood boils at the outrage.
Unpleasant As you pass dowu the gangwav vour number

Beginnings . , , . , 1 ' • 1 1 1

IS taken by an omcer with a mechanical checker,
and then you become part of the curious crowd
gathered in the great somber building, filled with
freight, much of it human. Here there is con-
fusion worse confounded, as separated groups
try to get together and dock watchmen try to
keep them in place. Many believe their baggage
has been stolen, and mothers are sure their chil-
dren have been kidnaped or lost. The dockmen
are violent, not hesitating to use their sticks, and
you find yourself more than once in danger,
although you strive to obey orders you do not
understand very well, since they are shouted out
in savage manner. The inspector reaches you
finally, and you are hustled along in a throng to
the barge that is waiting. You are tired and

'Broughton Brandenburg, Imported Americans, 208.

Keceivixg Room at Ellis Island

(A) Entrance stairs; (B) Examination of health ticket; (C) Surgeon's ex-
amination; (D) Second surgeon's examination: (E) Group compart-
ments; (F) Waiting for inspection; (G) Passage to the stairway;
(H) Detention room; (I) The Inspectors' desks; (K) Out-
ward passage to barge, ferry, or detention room.

Alien Admission and Restriction 59

hungry, having had no food since early break-
fast. Your dreams of America seem far from
reality just now. You are almost too weary to
care what next.

The next is Ellis Island, whose great building America's

... r 1 i Gateway

looks mvitmg. Out of the barge you are swept
with the crowd, baggage in hand or on head or
shoulder, and on to the grand entrance. As you
ascend the broad stairs, an officer familiar with
many languages is shouting out, first in one
tongue and then another, "Get your health tickets
ready." You notice that the only available place
many have in which to carry these tickets is in
their mouths, since their hands are full of chil-
dren or baggage.

At the head of the long pair of stairs you Medical
meet a uniformed officer (a doctor in the Marine ^°^p^'=*'°°
Hospital Service), who takes your ticket, glances
at it, and stamps it with the Ellis Island stamp.
Counting the quarantine officer as number one,
you have now passed officer number two. At the
head of the stairs you find yourself in a great
hall, divided into two equal parts, each part filled
with curious railed-off compartments. Directed
by an officer, you are turned into a narrow alley-
way, and here you meet officer number three, in
uniform like the second. The keen eyes of this
doctor sweep you at a glance, from feet to head.
You do not know it, but this is the first medical
inspection by a surgeon of the Marine Hospital

Aliens or Americans?

Service, and it causes a halt, although only for a
moment. When the person immediately in front
of you reaches this doctor, you see that he pushes
back the shawl worn over her head, gives a nod,
and puts a chalk mark upon her. He is on the
keen lookout for favus (contagious skin disease),
and for signs of disease or deformity. The old
man who limps along a little way behind you has
a chalk mark put on his coat lapel, and you won-
der why they do not chalk you.

You are now about ten or fifteen feet behind
your front neighbor, and as you are motioned
to follow, about thirty feet further on you con-
front another uniformed surgeon (officer number
four), who has a towel hanging beside him, a
small instrument in his hand, and a basin of dis-
infectants behind him. You have little time for
wonder or dread. With a deft motion he applies
the instrument to your eye and turns up the lid,
quickly shutting it down again, then repeats the
operation upon the other eye. He is looking for
the dreaded contagious trachoma or for purulent
ophthalmia ; also for disease of any kind, or any
defect that would make it lawful and wise to send
you back whence you came. You have now
been twice examined, and passed as to soundness
of body, freedom from lameness or defect, gen-
eral healthfulness, and absence of eye disease or
pulmonary weakness.

As you move along to the inclosed space of

Alien Admission and Restriction

your group E, you note that the lame man and
the woman who were chalk-marked are sent into
another railed-off space, known as the "detention
pen," where they must await a more rigid med-
ical examination. One other inspector you have
faced — a woman, whose sharp eyes seem to read
the characters of the women as they come up to
her "wicket gate ;" for it is her duty to stop the
suspicious and immoral characters and send them
to the detention rooms or special inquiry boards.
Thus you have passed five government officers
since landing on the Island. They have been
courteous and kindly, but impress you as know-
ing their business so well that they can readily
see through fraud and deception.

The entrance ordeal is not quite over, but for
a little while you rest on the wooden bench in
your E compartment, waiting until the group is
assembled, all save those sent away for deten-
tion. Suddenly you are told to come on, and in
single file E group marches along the narrow
railed alley that leads to officer number six, or
the inspector who holds E sheet in his hand.
When it comes your turn, your manifest is pro-
duced and you are asked a lot of questions. A
combined interpreter and registry clerk is at hand
to assist. The interpreter pleases you greatly by
speaking in your own language, which he rightly
guesses, and notes whether your answers agree
with those on the manifest.

Detention
Room

The Wicket
Gate

Entrance
Examination

62 Aliens or Americans?

Stairs of
Separation

The Ticket As vou havc the good fortune to be honest,
System havc Sufficient money to escape being halted

as likely to become a public charge, you are
ticketed "O. K." with an "R" which means that
you are bound for a railroad station. You see
a ticket "S. I." on the lame man, which means
that he is to go to a Board of Special Inquiry,
with the chances of being debarred, or sent back
home. On another, as you pass, you notice a
ticket "L. P. C," which signifies the dreaded
decision, "liable to become public charge" — a
decision that means deportation.
The Three All this time you have been guided. Now you
are directed to a desk where your railroad ticket-
order is stamped ; next to a banker's desk, where
your money is exchanged for American money;
and finally }'Ou are motioned to the right stairway
of three, this leading to the railroad barge room.
Here your baggage is checked and your ticket
provided, a bag of food is offered you, and then
you are taken on board a barge which will convey
you to the railroad station. You have left your
fellow-vo3'agers abruptly, all save the railroad-
ticketed like yourself. Had you been destined
for New York, you would have gone down the
left stairway and been free to take the ferry-
boat for the Battery. If you had expected
friends to meet you, the central stairway would
have led you to the waiting room for that pur-
pose. Those three stairways are called "The

Alien Admission and Restriction 63

Stairs of Separation," and there families are
sometimes ruthlessly separated without warning,
when bound for different destinations.

The officers, who have treated you courteously, Carefui
in strong contrast to the steamship and dock ^"p""'
employees, keep track of you until you are safely
on board an immigrant car, bound for the place
where your relatives are. Your ideas of great
New York are limited, but you have been saved
by this official supervision from being swindled
by sharpers or enticed into evil. You are practi-
cally in charge of the railway company, as you
have been of the steamship company, until you
are deposited at the station where you expect to
make your home. You are ready to believe, by
this time, that America is at least a spacious
country, with room enough in it for all who want
to come. At the same time you will admit, as
you recall some of your fellow-passengers in the
steerage, that there should not be room in the
country for those who ought not to come — not
only the diseased and insane, crippled and con-
sumptive, who are shut out by the law, but also
the delinquent and depraved, whose presence
means added ignorance and crime. You only
wish the inspectors could have seen some of those
shameless men on shipboard, so that in spite of
their smooth answers they might have been sent
back whence they came, to prey upon the inno-
cent there instead, of here. Now that it is all

Aliens or Americans?

over, you shudder for a long time at night as
memory recalls the steerage scenes, through
which your faith in God and your constant
\^prayers preserved you.^
The Alien's In such manner the alien gains his chance
Chance bccomc an American. What he will make

of that chance is a matter of grave importance to
the land that has opened to him the doors of
opportunity and liberty. Having seen how the
immigrants get into the United States, let us now
see how they are kept out. When we know what
the restrictive laws are, and how they are
enforced or evaded, we shall be in a position to
judge as to their sufficiency, and the need of
further legislation.

//. Governmental Regnlation

Evasion The United States has some excellent immi-

and Violation gration laws, the best and most extensive of any
nation, as one would expect, since this is the
nation to which nearly all immigrants come.
The trouble is that every attempt is made to
evade these laws, and where they cannot be
evaded they are violated. The laws are of two

'This imaginary sketch adheres in every detail to the facts. The
medical examiners and inspectors becoine exceedingly expert in de-
tecting disease, disability, or deception. If an overcoat is carried over
the shoulder, they look for a false or stiff arni. The gait and general
appearance indicate health o' want of it to them, and all who
do not appear normal are turned aside for further examination,
■which is thorough. The women have a special inspection by the
matrons, who have to be both exoert and alert to detect and reject
the unworthy. The chief difficulty hes in too small a force to
handle such large numl-f-r; " hich have reached as high as 4S.ooc
in five days.

Alien Admission and Restriction 65

classes: i. Protective, in favor of the immigrant;
and 2 Restrictive, in favor of the country.

There is a law against overcrowding on ship- Protection for
board, going back as far as 1819, but overcrowd- immigrant
ing has gone on ever since. ^ There seems to be
no doubt that even on the best steamships of the
best lines there is ready disregard of the law
when it interferes with the profits to be made
out of the steerage. Strong evidence to this
effect is given by Mr. Brandenburg. Here is a
condensed leaf from his own experience which
shows how much regard is paid to the comfort
and health of the steerage passengers :^

"In a compartment from nine to ten feet high steerage,
and having a space no larger than six ordinary
rooms, were beds for 195 persons, and 214
women and children occupied them. The ven-
tilation was merely what was to be had from the
companionway that opened into the alleyway
and not on the deck, the few ports in the ship's
sides, and the scanty ventilating shafts. The
beds were double-tiered affairs in blocks of from
ten to twenty, constructed of iron framework,
with iron slats in checker fashion to support
the burlap-covered bag of straw, grass, or waste
which served as a mattress. Pillows there were

'The present regulations were passed in 1882, and if lived up to,
as by trustworthy testimony they are not. would prevent serious
overcrowding, although the conditions as to air, sanitation, and
morals would still be most unsatisfactory. For protective laws,,
see Appendix B.

'Broughton Brandenburg, Imported Americans, chap. XIV.

Aliens or Americans?

none, only cork jacket life-preservers stuck under
one end of the mattress to give the elevation of a
pillow. One blanket sen ed the purpose of all
bedclothing; it was a mixture of wool, cotton,
and jute, predominantly jute ; the length of a
man's body and a yard and a half wide. For
such quarters and accommodations the emigrant
pays half the sum that would buy a first-class
passage. A comparison of the two classes shows
where the steamship company makes the most
money.

Feeding Like "Enrolled in the blanket each person found a
Animals fork, spoon, pint tin cup, and a flaring six-inch-
wide, two-inch-deep pan out of which to eat.
The passengers were instructed to form groups
of six and choose a mess-manager, who was
supposed to take the big pan and bucket, get the
dinner and drinkables, and distribute the portions
to his group. After the meal, some member was
supposed to collect the tin utensils and wash
them ready for next time. But the crowd in the
wash-room was so great that about one third
of the people chose to rinse off the things with a
dash of drinking water, others never washed their
cups and pans. Yet the emigrant pays half the
first-cabin rate for fighting for his food, serving
it himself, and washing his own dishes. The
food was in its quality good, but the manner in
which it was messed into one heap in the big
pan was nothing short of nauseating. After the

Alien Admission and Restriction 67

first meal the emigrants began throwing the
refuse on the deck instead of over the side or
into the scuppers. The result can be imagined.
It was an extremel}^ hot night, and the air in the
crowded compartment was so foul I could not
sleep. The men and boys about me lay for the
most part like logs, hats, coats, and shoes off,
and no more, sleeping the sleep of the tired.

"My wife said the babies in her compartment Remedy
were crying in relays of six, the women had Proposed
scattered bits of macaroni, meat, and potatoes
all over the beds and on the floor, and added
dishwater as a final discomfort. Two thirds of
the emigrants were as clean as circumstances
would permit, but the other third kept all in a
reign of uncleanliness. The worst could not be
put into print. The remedy for the whole mat-
ter is to pack fewer people in the same ship's
space, and a regular service at tables. The big
emigrant-carriers should be forced to give up
a part of their enormous profits in order that
sanitary conditions at least may prevail."

This certainly is not an unreasonable demand, Laws Rigidly
and proper laws with regard to the steerage " ""^^
rigidly enforced would tend to discourage immi-
gration, instead of the reverse, since the rates
would doubtless be raised as the numbers were
lowered. Cruel treatment of the helpless aliens
by the stewards and ship's officers should be
stopped. Mr Brandenburg's description, which

68 Aliens or Americans?

by no means tells the whole story of steerage
horrors, should serve to institute reform through
the creation of a public sentiment that will
■Steerage demand it. There is no other way to reach such.

Reforms . , , . , ,

Needed conditions ; and here is where the young people
can exert their influence powerfully for good.
Money greed should not be allowed to make the
steerage a disgrace to Christian civilization and
an offense to comm.on decency. Of course it is
difficult to detect what goes on in the hold of a
great steamship, and when immigrants make
complaint they frequently sufifer for it. It is
possible, however, to provide government inspec-
tors, and inspectors who will inspect and remain
proof against bribes. The one essential is a
sufficiently strong and insistent public opinion.

///. Putting up the Bars

The need of some regulation and restriction
of immigration was felt early in our national life.
The fathers of the Republic did not agree about
the matter, and in this their descendants have
been like them. Washington questioned the advis-
ability of letting any more imimigrants come,
except those belonging to certain skilled trades
that were needed to develop the new country.
IMadison favored a policy of liberality and
inducement, so that population might increase
more rapidly. Jefferson, on the other hand,
wished "there were an ocean of fire between this

Protection for
the Country

Alien Admission and Restriction 69

country and Europe, so that it might be impos-
sible for any more immigrants to come hither."
We can only conjecture what his thoughts would
be if he were to return and study present condi-
tions. Franklin, certainly one of the wisest and
most far-seeing of the earlier statesmen, feared
that immigration would tend to destroy the
homogeneity essential to a democracy with ideals.
Equally great and good men in our history have
taken one or the other side of this question, from
the extreme of open gates to that of prohibition,
while the people generally have gone on about
their business with the comfortable feeling that
matters come out pretty well if they are not too
much interfered with.

While statesmen were theorizing and dif¥ering, y^^^^ gj^j^
conditions made the need of some actual regula- Law in 1834
tions and restrictions felt as early as 1824,
although the total immigration of that year was
only 7,912, or less than that of a single day at
present. The first law resulted from abuse of )
free admission. It was found that some foreign /
governments were shipping their paupers, /
diseased persons, and criminals to America as the 1
easiest and most economical way to get rid of \
them. This it undoubtedly was for them ; but the \
people of New York did not see where the ease '
and economy came in on their side of the
ledger, and in self-defense, therefore, the state
passed the first law, with intent to shut out unde-

7© Aliens or Americans?

sirables.^ This state legislation was the genesis
of national enactment. The history of federal
laws concerning aliens is covered compactly by
Mr. Hall, and those interested in the details of
this important phase of the subject are re-
ferred to his book.2 A comprehensive table,
by means of which all the significant legisla-
tion can be seen at a glance, will be found in
Appendix B.

Government In 1882 there Came a tremendous wave of
Control immigration, with effects upon the labor market
that largely induced the passage in that year of
the first general immigration law. The Federal
1 Government now assumed entire control of the
ports of entry, as it was manifestly essential to
have a national policy and supervision. Since
j 1862, when the Chinese coolies were excluded,
under popular pressure. Congress has passed
eight Acts of more or less importance, culminat-
ing in the Act of 1903,2 wdiich is said by Mr.
1 Whelpley, who has collected all the immigration
laws of all countries, and is therefore competent

^This Act of 1824 required of vessel -masters a report giving name,
birthplace, age, and occupation of each immigrant, and a bond to
secure the city against public charges.

^Immigration, chap. X.

^The main provisions are; i. Head tax of $2. 2. Excluded
classes numbering 17- 3- Criminal oflfenses against the Immigra-
tion Acts, enumerating 1 2 crimes. 4 Rejection of the diseased
aliens. S- Manifest, required of vessel-masters, with answers to
It) questions. 6. Examination of immigrants. 7. Detention and
return of aliens. 8. Bonds and guaranties. The la%v may be
found in full in the Appendix to Immigration, and in The Problem of
tlie Immigrant, chap. VI., where the rules and regulations for
its enforcement are also given. A list of the excluded classes and
criminal offenses will be found in Appendix B of this volume.

Alien Admission and Restriction 71

to judge, to be "up to the present time the most
far-reaching measure of its kind in force in any-
country; and the principles underlying it must
serve as the foundation for all immigration
restriction." Under this law we have practically
unrestricted immigration, with the important
exceptions that the Chinese laborers are not
admitted, and that persons suffering from
obvious contagious diseases, insane persons,
known anarchists and criminals, and a certain
small percentage likely to become public charges \
are debarred. The law does not fix a property,
income, or educational qualification, does not
insist upon a knowledge of a trade, nor impose
a tax. In other words, we have at present a
more or less effective police regulation of immi-
gration, but we are not pursuing a policy of
restriction or limitation.

As to the Chinese, we have made an excep- un-American
tion, and one that fails to commend itself to Discriminatioo
many. Grant that there is much to be said in
favor of the proper restriction of Chinese immi-
gration, especially on the ground that the immi-
grants would come only to earn money and
return home, not to become Americans ; that
there can be no race assimilation between Chinese
and Americans; and that such bird-of-passage /
cheap male labor is a detriment to the best inter-
ests of the country. All the force in these argu-
ments applies equally to a large proportion of /

72 Aliens or Americans?

the immigration from southeastern Europe which
is admitted. The laws should be uniform. The
right to shut out the Chinese coolies is not ques-
tioned ; but if these be debarred, why not debar
the illiterate and unskilled laboring class that
comes from Ireland, Italy, and Austria-Hungary ?
The Chinese certainly can fill a place in our
industries which the other races do not fill equally
well. Their presence in the kitchen would tend
to alleviate domestic conditions that are respon-
sible in large measure for the breaking up of
American home life. It is a ludicrous error to
suppose that all the Chinese who come to
America are laundrymen at home. Let Mrs. S. L.
Baldwin, a returned missionary who labored in
China for eighteen years and knows the people
she pleads for, bear her witness :
A Mission- "The Chinese are exactly the same class as
ary's Plea for immigrants from other lands. The needy

the Chinese . 7 r ■ 11

poor, With few exceptions, must ever be the
immigrant class. Those who come to us across
the Pacific are largely from the respectable farm-
ing class, who fall into laundry work, shoe-
making, etc., because these branches of industry
are chiefly open to them. I have no fear of the
Chinese immigrants suffering in comparison
with those who come across the Atlantic. It is
not the Chinaman who is too lazy to work, and
goes to the almshouse or jail. It is not he who
reels through our streets, defies our Sabbath laws.

Alien Admission and Restriction 73

deluges our country with beer, and opposes all
work for temperance and the salvation of our
sons from the liquor curse. It is not the man
from across the Pacific who commits the fear-
ful crimes, and who is longing to put his hand
to our political wheel and rule the United
States. There are no healthier immigrants
coming to this countr}^ It is with difficulty,
and only under pressure of necessity they are
induced to leave China, so that the bugbear
of millions of coolies overrunning America is
absurd."

Workers in the Chinese missions and Sunday- £^!'^°r

Fair Play

schools in this country will assent to Mrs. Bald-
win's words. And Americans will appreciate
her sense of the ludicrous when an Irish washer-
woman in San Francisco, indignant that a
Chinese servant had been brought to America
by the missionary, said to her, "We have a right
here and they haven't." As for the Chinese, the
time will come when the injustice of discrimi-
nating against a single nation will be recognized
and the wrong be righted. There are no more
stable converts to Christianity, no more generous
givers and zealous missionaries, than the Chinese
converts. Let us have American fair play, about
which President Roosevelt says so much, in our
treatment of them. Recent developments prove
that the United States is unwilling to imperil the
relations of friendship which have existed with
China.

74 Aliens or Americans?

IV. Excluding the Unfit

Intelligence At EIHs Island one may see what is aptly
of Inspectors termed "the tragedy of the excluded."i The
enforcement of the laws comes into operation at
the ports of entry. Practically everything
depends upon the intelligence and faithfulness
of the inspectors, who are charged with grave
responsibility. Immigrant and country are
equally at their mercy. Necessarily a large
margin must be left to their judgment when it
comes to the question, Will the applicant now
before me probably become a public charge —
that is, fall into the pauper or criminal class — .
or is he of the right stuff to make a respectable
and desirable American citizen? In cases of
plain insanity or idiocy or disease the decision
is easy; but when it comes to the moral and
economic sphere an expert opinion is required.
Trickeries Tlieii, the iuspcctors havc to be constantly on
Attempted t}^g lookout for dcccption and fraud. Immigrants
who belong to the excluded classes have been
carefully coached by agents interested in getting
them through the examination. Diseased eyes
have been doctored up for the occasion; lame
persons have been trained to avoid the fatal limp
during that walk between the two surgeons. Lies
have been put into innocent mouths and the
beginnings of falsehood into the heart. Mr.
Adams gives this instance showing how the

'Joseph H. Adams, in Home Missionary, for April, 1905.

Alien Admission and Restriction 75

mind of the inspector works. The line is
passing steadily, ceaselessly. A flashily dressed
French girl has plenty of money but unsatis-
factory references and destination, and back she
is turned.

"Next comes a bookkeeper, so he says. His Discretion
father gave him money and he was coming here
to make his fortune. The inspector is not satis-
fied and he is turned over to the 'S. I.' Board.
But his papers, money, and statements are clear
and he is admitted ; they give him the benefit of
the doubt as they always do. But next in line
comes a well built stocky Pole, with nothing in
the world but a carpet bag, a few bundles, and
a small showing of money. Ambition is written
all over his face and he is admitted. 'Now,' says
the recorder, pausing for a moment, 'see the
difference between these two gents. The first
duffer will look around for a job, spend time
and money to get something to suit him, and keep
his job for a short time; then he will give it up,
run through his money, borrow from his friends,
and then give them all the cold hand. He won't
wear well, and his dad knew it when he sent him
over, but he was glad to get rid of him. So lots
of them are. Now look at the difference between picking the
him and that Pole. He knows nothing but work, winning Man
Look at his eyes, mild but good. He has been
brought up next to mother earth ; turn him loose
from the train when he reaches his destination

76 Aliens or Americans?

and he will dig. He won't hang around looking
for a job, but he will till the soil and before you
or I know it he will have crops and that is what
he will live on. He comes from a hard country,
is tough, and when you and I are going around
shivering in an overcoat, he will be going around
in his shirt sleeves. That is the stuff we want
here, not the first kind, with flabby hands and
sapped vitality.' Sure enough the bookkeeper
did not wear well, and falling into the hands of
the police, some months later, he was deported
under the three-year limitation law, and the
country was better for it."
Wise The inspectors are wise in showing partiality

Partiality, and (-q the men who havc plenty of davs' work in

Work Praised . , , , , ' t .

them, even if they have less money. It is not at
all safe to judge the immigrants as desirable or
otherwise according to the amount of money per
capita they bring. It is the head and not the head-
money that should be looked at. Think of the
responsibility. i\Iore than 300,000 women passed
through the "moral wicket" at Ellis Island last
year. Of course many of bad quality, men and
women both, get through, for inspectors on too
meager salaries are not omniscient, but a good
word should be said for these public servants,
who in the main are conscientiously performing
a delicate and difficult task.^ Let us see some

*The Immisrration Bureau has 1,214 inspectors and special
agents. The Commissioner-General says of them: They are spread
ttiroughout the country from Maine to southern California. They are

Alien Admission and Restriction 77

of the results of their work. This will give an
idea of the large numbers who ought never to
have been allowed to leave home.

The following table shows the principal classes Record of
of excluded for the past fourteen years, with the °<=t'"'
total debarred for each year, and the percentage :

THE DEBARRED FOR THE YEARS 1892-1905

il<ely
ublic

c ^

a o

rcrs

■a

ivhole

— a.

•s

Year

Immi-
grants

S
o

Paupers, o
to becom
charges

Loathsome
gcrous CO
diseases

Convicts

.Assisted
Immigrants

Contract 1;

Total deba

Percentage

1892

579.663

1.002

932

2,164

0.4

1893

439,730

431

518

1,053

0.2

1894

285,031

802

553

1,389

0.5

1895

258,536

1,714

094

2,419

0.9

1896

343,267

2,010

770

2,799

0.8

1897

230,832

1,277

■3

328

1,617

0.7

1898

229,299

2,261

258

417

3,030

1.3

1899

311,715

2,599

348

741

3,798

1.2

1900

448,572

2,974

393

833

4,246

1.0

1901

487,918

2,798

300

.50

327

3,516

0.7

1902

648,743

3,944

700

275

4,974

0.8

1903

857,040

5,S!2

1,773

1,080

8,769

1.0

1904

812,870

4,798

1,500

1..501

7,994

1.0

1905

1.026.499

7,898

2,198

1,104

11,480

1.2

Total debarred in the fourteen years, 59,248.

The debarred have the right of appeal, from ^^e^^ of

the Special Inquiry Board which excludes them, ^'p"'
to the Commissioner of the Port, then to the
Commissioner-General, and finally to the Secre-

thoroughly organized under competent chiefs, many of them working
regardless of hours, whether breaking the seals of freight cars on
the southern border to prevent the smuggHng of Chinese, or
watching the countless routes of in.gress from Canada, ever alert
and willing, equally efficient in detecting the inadmissible alien
and the pretended citizen. The Bureau asserts with confidence that,
excepting a very few, the government of this country has no more
able and faithful servants in its employ, either civil or military, than
the immigration officers.

Aliens or Americans?

Exclusion
by Races

Increase of
Undesirable

Fraud of

Transportation

Companies

tary of Commerce and Labor. The steamship
Hnes that brought them have to pay costs of
detention and deportation, which is one means of
making these Hnes careful.

A second table, which shows the exclusion by
races, will repay study. It is given in Appendix
A. It not only shows where the bulk of the
excluded belong, but reveals not a little con-
cerning the character of those admitted who
come from the same races. The intention of the
present Commissioner-General is to enforce the
laws strictly, yet in a humane spirit. Comparing
the figures for the two years 1903- 1904, he
says :

"The most significant feature of this state-
ment is the large increase in the number of idiots,
insane persons, and paupers during 1905, which,
coupled with an increase of twenty-five per cent,
in the number of diseased aliens, justifies the
Bureau in directing attention to the flagrant and
wilful disregard by the ocean carriers of the
laws for the regulation of their business of secur-
ing alien passengers destined for the United
States."!

This brings up a point of vast importance in
more ways than one. The official reports charge
wholesale deception, evasion, and fraud upon the
great transportation companies. The fact stands
for itself that in 1904 they were fined more than

'Commissioner-General's Report for 1005, p. 41.

Alien Admission and Restriction 79

$31,000 under the section of the law imposing a
$100 penalty for bringing a diseased alien whose
disease might have been detected by a competent
medical examination at the port of departure.
For many years these companies have in doubtful
cases demanded double passage money, so that
they might make a profit both ways if the alien
were rejected. The Italian government has
passed an Act giving an alien right to recover the
money illegally retained in this way, showing the
practice, and the government opinion of it.

The truth is, the transportation agent has Artificial
become a figure of international consequence and swelling oi

Passage Ft

concern. The artificial cause behind the present
unprecedented exodus from Europe, according
to Whelpley, is the abnormal activity of the
transportation companies in their effort to
secure new and profitable cargo for their ships.
In 1900 over $118,000,000 was invested in trans-
atlantic steamship lines, which are largely owned
by foreigners. New lines to the Mediterranean
have been put on with distinct purpose to swell
the Italian and Slav immigration. Rate cutting
has at times made it possible for the steerage pas-
senger to go from Liverpool to New York for as
low as $8.75. The average rate is not high
enough to deter anyone who really wants to
come. An English line, in return for establishing
a line direct from a Mediterranean port, has 1
secured from the Hungarian government a guar- I

8o Aliens or Americans?

Solicitation
Law Violated

The Ubiq-
uitous and
Unscrupulous
"Runner"

antee of 30,000 immigrants a year from its ter-
ritory.

The law forbids transportation companies or
the owners of vessels to "directly or through
agents, either by written, printed, or oral solici-
tations, solicit, invite, or encourage the immigra-
tion of any aliens into the United States except
by ordinary commercial letters, circulars, adver-
tisements, or oral representations, stating the
sailings of their vessels and terms and facilities
of transportation therein." That this restrictive
provision is persistently evaded is made plain by
the reports of government inspectors sent abroad
to investigate. The annual migration involves
more than a hundred millions of dollars, and
where money is to be made law is easily
disobeyed.

One of the inspectors says the chief evil in this
solicitation business is the so-called "runner."
Here is his description of this mischievous genus
homo. "It is he who goes around in eastern and
southern Europe from city to city and village to
village telling fairy tales about the prosperity of
many immigrants in America and the opportuni-
ties offered by the United States for aliens. The
runner does not know of anyone who is undesir-
able ; he claims to be all-powerful, that he has
representatives in every port who can 'open the
door' of America to anyone. It is he who induces
many a diseased person to attempt the journey.

Alien Admission and Restriction 8l

and it is also he and his associates who do their
best to have the undesirables admitted. The
steamship companies, as a rule, do not deal with
these runners directly and disclaim all responsi-
bility for their nefarious practices. But the
official agents of the steamship companies do
pay their runners commissions for every immi-
grant referred to them. I have especially studied
this problem along the borders of Germany,
Russia, and Austrian Galicia. Here most of the
emigrants are smuggled across the frontiers by
these runners and robbed of the greater part of
their cash possessions. When they arrive at the
'control station' it is remarkable that most emi-
grants have cards with the address of a certain
steamship ticket agent, and the agent, on the
other hand, has a list of all the individuals who
were smuggled across the frontiers. When I
asked one of these representatives how this was
done, he told me that he paid 'good commissions'
to the runner on the other side of the frontier
for each case. When steamship companies and
their agents stop paying commissions to runners
for emigrants referred to them, individuals will
only by their own initiative attempt to come to the
United States, and most of those considered
undesirable will remain at their native homes."^ I

Violations of law abound. Smuggling persons
is regarded with much the same moral leniency contempt

^Immigration Report for igos, p. 56.

Aliens or Americans?

as smuggling goods. The law forbids importa-
tion of persons under contract to work. In April
last two Italian steamships carried back to
Europe more than i,ooo laborers, who had been
brought over in violation of the contract-labor
laws. Commissioner Watchorn had word from
his special investigators abroad that the men
had been collected in the Balkan States to work
for padrones in this country. So back went the
thousand Slavs ; but it was a chance discovery.
The men admitted that the padrones had paid
their passage and agreed to furnish them work.
They said the rosiest conditions had been painted
before their eyes, and they believed "big money"
was to be made here. The steamship companies
had to bear the expense of taking them back, but
the padrones have not suf¥ered any penalty, and
will go on with their unlawful work.
How the Mr. Brandenburg learned from an Italian

Engaged womau that her husband had been commissioned
by a contractor in Pittsburg to go into the Italiaa
provinces of Austria and engage 200 good stone-
masons, 200 good carpenters, and an indefinite
number of unskilled laborers. These people were
to be put in touch with sub-agents of lines sailing
from Hamburg, Fiume, and Bremen, and these
agents were to be accountable for these contract
laborers being got safely into the United States.
This woman said many of her neighbors in
Pittsburg had come into the country as contract

Alien Admission and Restriction 83

laborers and held the law in great contempt, as
it was merely a matter of being sufficiently
instructed and prepared, and no official at Boston
or Ellis Island could tell the difference.^ Why
should not the law be held in contempt, not only
this one but all law, by the immigrant who is
introduced to America through its violation, and
trained to perjure himself at the outset of his new
career? Does not the Commissioner-General
sound a note of warning when he says :

"It is not reasonable to anticipate that if the The chnstii
great transportation lines do not respect the laws "^"'^
of this country their alien passengers will do so,
nor can it be conceded that those aliens whose
entrance to the United States is effected in spite
of the law are desirable or even safe additions to
our population."^

It is painful to think that such conditions can Remedy
exist in connection with so vital a matter as immi- Demanded
gration. But it is better to have the facts known,
in order that a remedy may be found. Publicity is
the safety of republics and communities. And the
disclosures of the lengths to which men will go
in order to make money should give new and
mighty impulse to those who believe in righteous-
ness and have not bowed to the god mammon.
If the work of Christianizing the aliens is made
harder by the experiences through which they

'Broughton Brandenburg, Imported Americans, ,33.
^Immigration Report for 190s, p. 48.

84 Aliens or Americans?

pass and the examples they have set before them
by unscrupulous persons, it must be undertaken
with so much the more zeal. Respect for law
must be preserved, and one of the best ways to
accomplish this is to see to it that the laws are
enforced and the violators of them punished, even
though they represent giant corporations and
vast capital.

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER II

Aim : To Realize the Necessity of Just and Ade-
quate Laws for the Admission and Restriction
OF Immigrants

I. Method of Admission.

1. What proportion of the immigrants now com-
ing land at New York?

2. What is Ellis Island like — materially — spiritu-
ally?

3. Suppose yourself an immigrant : what steps
would you take to reach New York? What
processes would you undergo on landing?
How would you be directed?

II. Governmental Regulation.

4. What two kinds of government regulation are
practicable? Are both in force?

5. Do the steamship companies obey the law?
with regard to its letter? to its real intent?

III. Restriction.

6. * Do you think unrestricted immigration is best

for our countrj'?

7. Why is the present discrimination against the
Chinese not just?

Alien Admission and Restriction 85

8. When and to what extent was control over
immigration assumed by the United States
Government ?

9. What measures were passed in 1903? Has
there been any action since?

10. What classes of immigrants are excluded as
unfit? Who decides in case of doubt?

11. Are many immigrants sent back? Why do the
steamship companies bring the unfit?

IV. Violation.

12. How is immigration solicited? How is it
coerced ?

13. What is the purpose and what the actual work-
ing of the "Contract-Labor Law" ?

V. What Can the Christian Public do to Improve
Conditions?

14. * Can we expect immigrants to obey our laws,

if they are started in such ways? Why not?

15. Has Christian public opinion any special duty
in this matter? What is it?

References for Advanced Study. — Chapter H

L Visit and inspect if possible, some receiving station
for immigrants, and report ; or else consult the
statements and charts of Reports of the Commis-
sioner of Immigration, for the year ending June 30,
1905-

II. Describe the Brandenburgs during life among
Italians, and journey to this country as immi-
grants; their aims, and the results achieved.
Brandenburg: Imported Americans, IV, XIII, XV,
XXIL

86 Aliens or Americans?

III. The present regulation of imtnigrants, with spe-
cial reference to "The Excluded."

Laws for 1903.

Hall : Immigration, 216-231.

Brandenburg: Imported Americans, 248-274.

IV. Is there need for further restriction?
Hall : Immigration, XI, XII.
Hunter: Poverty, VI.

Charities and The Commons, issue for March 31,
1906.

The evils attendant upon unrestricted
immigration are not theoretical but
actual. Emigration from one place
becomes immigration into another. It is
an international affair of greatest impor-
tance, and should be speedily recognised
as such. — J. D. Whelpley.

Ill

PROBLEMS OF LEGISLATION AND
DISTRIBUTION

The immigration question in this country has never
had the attention to which its importance entitles it. It
has sometimes been the scapegoat of religious and
racial prejudices, and always, in recent years, an annual
sacrifice to the gods of transportation. — Prescott F.
Hall.

It is exasperating to any patriotic American to have
brought convincingly before him the proofs of a whole-
sale evasion of a very carefully planned code of laws
which he fain would think is a sufficient protection of
his country's best interests. It is more annoying to
realize that the successful evaders are for the most part
foreigners, and those, too, of commonly despised races.
The conclusion is plain : Seek the grounds on which
to deny passage to undesirable emigrants who wish to

come to the United States, in the villages from which

* .

they emanate. In the communes of their nativity the
truth is known and cannot be hidden. — Broughton
Brandenburg.

The mesh of the law needs to be stiffened rather than
relaxed. The benefit of the doubt belongs to the United
States rather than to the alien who clamors for admit-
tance.— C ommissioner-General Sargent.

Distribution, rather than wholesale restriction, is
being more and more recognized as the real way out of
the difficulties presented by our immense unassimilated
immigration. — Gino C. Speranza.

The need is to devise some system by which unde-
sirable immigrants shall be kept out entirely, while
desirable immigrants are properly distributed through-
out the country. — President Roosevelt.

Ill

PROBLEMS OF LEGISLATION AND
DISTRIBUTION

HERE is a growing conviction that some- Difficulties in

tiling ought to be done to check the present
enormous inflow of immigrants. But Avhen it
comes to what that something is, difficulties at
once arise. There are so many foreigners already
in x\merica, and so many children of foreign-born
parents, that it is impossible to touch the stream
at any point without protest from some source.
As some one says, "You do not have to go very
far back in the family line of any of us to find an
immigrant. Scratch an American and you find
a foreigner." And not a few of these foreigners
sympathize with the Irishman who said to a lady
against whom he had a grievance because she
insisted on having a Chinese servant, "We have
a right here that those who are here by the mere
accident of birth have not." On the other hand,
it was a foreigner of wide vision who said: "I do
not believe there is any peculiar virtue in Ameri-
can birth, or that Americans are (per se)
superior to all other nations ; but I do believe that
they are better fitted than all others to govern

/. The Present Sitttation

Aliens or Americans?

their own country. Thev made the country what
it is, and ought to have tlie first voice in deter-
mining what it is to be. In this alone consists
their superiority."'
7*** . . It is significant and hopeful that men are think-

Immigration ^ _ '

Conference iug upou the subjcct. \\'hat wc want is full anil
of 1905 fair discussion and thorough information. Noth-
ing is so perilous in a democracy as ignorance
and indifference. It is far better for men to dis-
agree tlioughtfully than to agree thoughtlessly.
What all patriotic and Christian men seek is the
best good of this country, which means so much
to the whole world as the supreme experiment
of self-government. That the people are awaken-
ing was shown by the Immigration Conference
in New York in December of 1(705, when five
hundred men, most of them appointed by their
state governors, gathered under the auspices of
the National Civic Federation to discuss the
whole question of immigration. The immigration
experts of the country were present, ami the
company included United States Senators and
Representatives, college presidents and profes-
sors, leading editors, lawyers ami clergymen, and
prominent labor leaders.

No such conference on this subject has before
been held, and the results of the discussion,
which was for the most part as temperate and
sensible as it was straightforwartl. were such

'Prof. H. H. Boyesen.

Conclusions
Reached

Legislation and Distribution 91

as to bring about a better understanding between
the men who are supposed to be theorists and the
representatives of American labor. The resolu-
tions unanimously adopted were conservative
and practical. The most important recommenda-
tions call for admission tests in Europe rather
than after the alien has reached America, for
the spread of information leading to better dis-
tribution, and for the establishment of a com-
mission to investigate the subject of immigration
in all its relations, including the violations and
evasions of the present law. Undoubtedly such
a commission, appointed by the president and
possessed of competent authority, could accom-
plish much good. For one thing, it could keep
the matter before the people and wisely guide
public sentiment.

However much men may dif¥er in view as The Right of
to specific legislation, one point ought to be fi^n"^'^"**'^'
regarded as settled. That is, the right of Con-
gress to pass such laws as may be deemed essen-
tial to safeguard American institutions and
liberties. A nation has the inalienable right to
protect itself against foreign invasion; and it
does not matter whether the invasion be armed
or under the guise of immigration. No foreign
nation has the right to send its peoples to Amer-
ica, or by persecution to drive them forth upon
other nations, and no foreigner has any inherent
right to claim admission to the United States.

92 Aliens or Americans?

Welfare of the
State Supreme

Cases that call
for Reform

Astonishing
Abuses

Right is determined, in migration as in civic
relations, not by the will or whim of the individ-
ual, but by the welfare of the state. Further than
this, the government has the right to deport at
any time any aliens who may be regarded as unfit
to remain. There ought to be no confusion as to
rights in this matter.

The question recurs, however, is there need
of doing anything? As to this President Roose-
velt and the Commissioner-General of Immigra-
tion are agreed. In his last annual message the
President recommended the prohibition of immi-
gration through Canada and ]\Iexico, the
strengthening of our exclusion laws, heavier
restraints upon the steamship companies, and
severer penalties for enticing immigrants. It is
a striking fact that nearly all of the proposed
additions to our laws are intended to stop the
evasion and violation of the laws we have, which
are made ineffective by fraud and questionable
practices of the most extensive kind. A recent
writer^ presents this matter in condensed form
worthy of study, giving this "astonishing cata-
logue of abuses," brought to light by special
inspectors in the employ of the Immigration
Bureau :

"i. The importation of contract laborers, usually
under the direction of padrones, from Greece, Italy,
and Austria-Hungary.

"2. The smuggling of immigrants across the Canadian
'Frederick Austin Ogg, in Outlook for May 5, 1906.

Legislation and Distribution 93

and Mexican borders who would be certain of rejection
at our Atlantic ports.

"3. The 'patching up' of immigrants afflicted with
favus, trachoma, and other loathsome or contagious
diseases so that they can get past the inspectors without
detection, even though the process is likely to augment
their sufferings later.

"4. The forgery and sale of spurious naturalization
certificates and the repeated use of the same certificates
passed back and forth between relatives and friends.

"5. The assisting of immigration, either by local
authorities in Europe or by earlier comers in America.

"6. The stimulating'of immigration by transportation
companies and their armies of paid agents and sub-
agents in Europe."

As a result, Mr. Ogg says, of the widespread a Plain
operations through these underground channels Necessity
there is an abnormal immigration movement so
■vast as "to override and all but reduce to a mere
joke our whole restrictive system. That an
appalling number of aliens who are on the verge
of dependency, defectiveness, and delinquency
do somehow contrive to get into the country
every year is a fact too well known to call for
verification here. Nobody undertakes to deny
it." There is plain necessity, therefore, that some
means of redeeming the situation should be
found.

//. Proposed Legislation
The Commissioner-General of Immigration, in Recom-

mendations

his report for 1905, devotes much space to new
or amendatory legislation, which he regards as

Aliens or Americans?

Value of

International

Conference

Immigration
Bills in
Congress

a necessity.^ To bring the steamship companies
to stricter regard for law, he would raise the
penalty for carrying diseased persons from $ioo
to $500. He favors the debarring of illiterates,
and as a special recommendation proposes an
international conference of immigration experts,
with a view to secure by treaty or convention the
cooperation of foreign countries from which
aliens migrate hither, both in reducing the num-
ber of immigrants and preventing the inadmissi-
ble and undesirable classes 'from leaving their
own homes.

Such a conference would certainly be con-
ducive to a good understanding between nations,
would doubtless secure an effective restraint of
the transportation agencies, and throw such light
upon the attitude of foreign governments toward
our present system of immigration restriction as
would enable Congress to decide intelligently what
additional measures are necessary to protect tliis
country from the dangers of an increasing influx
of aliens. This is an admirable recommendation.
As Mr. Whelpley says, it is a question of emigra-
tion as well as immigration, and since two coun-
tries are interested in the migrants, the whole
matter is properly one for international confer-
ence and action.

The interest taken by Congress in immigra-
tion is indicated bv the introduction in the House

'A synopsis of these recommendations will be found in Appendix B.

Legislation and Distribution

during the session of 1906 of nineteen bills
to regulate or restrict immigration, while a num-
ber were introduced in the Senate also. The
House Committee on Immigration, of which Mr.
Gardner, of Massachusetts, is chairman, took all
the bills into consideration and reported a com-
prehensive Bill to Regulate the Immigration of
Aliens into the United States. This proposed
law advances considerably beyond the Act of
1903, which it is designed to replace. It raises
the head tax from $2 to $5, introduces the read-
ing test/ and practically creates a money test
also, by requiring every male immigrant to have
$25 in hand at the time of examination.^ The
money from the head tax is to constitute a perma-
nent immigration fund, to defray not only the
cost of the Immigration Bureau, but also that of
maintaining an information bureau, to save immi-
grants from being deceived and show them where
they are most wanted and likely to succeed."
The section in this proposed legislation that

'Sec. 38. That no alien immigrant over sixteen years of age physi-
cally capable of reading shall be admitted to the United States until
he has proved to the satisfaction of the proper inspection officers
that he can read English or some other tongue . . provided that
an admissible alien over sixteen, or a person now or hereafter in the
United States of like age, may bring in or send for his wife, mother,
aflfianced wife, or father over fifty-five, if they are otherwise admis-
sible, whether able to read or write or not.

'Sec. 39. That every male alien immigrant over sixteen shall be
deemed likely to become a public charge unless he shows to the
proper immigration officials that he has in his possession at the time
of inspection money to the equivalent of $25, or that the head of his
family entering with him so holds that amount to his account.
Every female alien must have $15.

^The Bill, as amended, left the head tax at $2, and the reading
test was omitted. Great opposition to the Bill came from the for-
eign element, especially the Jews.

Aliens or Americans?

has caused most discussion and dissension is the
illiteracy test. This measure has been pressed upon
Congress by the Immigration Restrictive League
ever since the organization of that Society in
1894. Senator Lodge fathered it and it was
passed once and vetoed by President Cleveland.-
President Roosevelt recommended it in his
message of December 3, 1901, and it has received
the endorsement of many boards of charities and
many leading men. The strongest argument in
favor of it is contained in a resolution passed
by the Associated Charities of Boston, although
the same argument applies broadly to the ques-
tion of restriction. The reading test was dis-
cussed by speakers at the National Immigration
Conference, but that meeting did not include it in
the resolutions adopted. The Jewish influence is
thrown strongly against it, since the Russian
Jews who are fleeing from oppression are among
the most illiterate of the present immigration.
This is due to lack of school facilities, however,
for the Jews naturally take to education and
the Jewish children in the public schools and
high schools are carrying off the prizes. "Not
long ago I saw a Jewish girl in a New England
academy win the prize in constitutional histor}'
over the heads of the boys and girls from
American families, though her father was an illit-
erate Russian Jew."^

>Dr. Goodchild.

Legislation and Distribution 97

That is not by any means an unusual testi- in Favor of
mony. Another fact worthy of note is that
many of those who have worked most closely
among the immigrants do not favor the reading
test. Mr. Brandenburg, for example, suggests
that the illiterates often prove less opinionated
and more easily assimilable than others of the
same race who can read and write, and says
that so far as his experience goes the great pro-
portion of the rascals and undesirables can read
and write ; that if he had his choice between
admitting to this country a wealthy educated
Roman nobleman or an illiterate Neapolitan or
Sicilian laborer, he would take the laborer every
time, for his brain and brawn and heart make the
better foundation on which to build the institu-
tions of our Republic. Miss Kate Claghorn and
other experienced workers agree in this view,
and think it would be a positive misfortune to
make ability to read the deciding test. Nor
would these experts favor the money test. They
believe the inspectors should have more leeway,
as judges of human nature, and would rather
rely on their judgment as to the character of
the applicant than upon any arbitrary tests. So
this is an open question for discussion, with good
arguments on both sides.

There are three propositions further. The Funher
first is a measure introduced into the House by
the late Congressman Adams of Pennsylvania.

Aliens or Americans?

This would restrict by law the total number of
immigrants from any given country in any one
year to 80,000. This would decrease the south
of Europe quota, and might increase tliat from
northern Europe. It would at any rate tend to
stop the million a year rate.
Itinerant xhc sccond mcasurc is proposed by Mr. Bran- ,
denburg, who feels sure it would prove the
desired remedy. His opinion carries a good deal
of weight. His proposal is to "select emi-
grants before itinerant boards of two, three, or
more native-bom Americans who speak fluently
and understand thoroughly the language and
dialects of the people who come before them —
these boards to be on a civil service basis," and
to sit at stated times in the central cities of the
countries whence aliens come.^ This he believes
to be "a correct solution of the gigantic prob-
lem." It would keep expense down, avoid
opportunities for wholesale corruption of Ameri-
can officials by the transporation interests and
the immigrants themselves, and enable the exam-
iners to deny passage to persons desirous of
going to districts already over-populated with
aliens.

Inspection third measure is in line with the second,

Abroad instead of establishing itinerant boards of

examiners, it proposes to select fifteen or twenty
ports abroad which shall be made exclusive points

• Broughton Brandenburg, Imported Americans, 302.

Legislation and Distribution 99

for the embarkation of emigrants bound for the
United States. Mr. Ogg states the plan as
follows :

"Perhaps an adequate list would be Hamburg, List ot cities
Bremen, Stettin, Rotterdam, Antwerp, London,
Southampton, Liverpool, Havre, St. Nazaire,
Marseilles, Fiume, Trieste, Naples, Genoa, and
Odessa. At each of these ports should be located
an immigrant station, similar, in a general way, to
the immigrant stations at our larger Atlantic
ports to-day, and it should be made the duty
of the resident commissioners, with their staffs
of inspectors and medical attaches, to examine
carefully and minutely every man, woman, and
child of alien nationality who applies for pas-
sage to the United States. Successful applicants
should be given a certificate which alone would
enable them to land at the port of destination ;
those unsuccessful should be made to understand
then and there that, in their present state at least,
there is no chance for them to carry out their
intention of migration, and that the best thing
for them to do is to return to their homes.

This radical plan proposes to transfer Ellis Do the sifting

T 1 1 • <-/- ,- *° Europe

Island, m effect, to a score of pomts m Europe,
and do the sifting before the starting. That
would be sensible. Then only the desirable por-
tion would get here. While the idea is radical,
it is the outgrowth of years of experience and re-

' Outlook for May $, 1906.

lOO Aliens or Americans?

flection, and Mr. Ogg says, immigration officials
are generally agreed upon its wisdom and practi-
cability. This system, thoroughly carried out,
would not only stop all immigration that is ille-
gal, but as much as possible of that which, though
not illegal, is questionable and undesirable. ^lore
tests applied at this end of the route will be only
partially effective, since experience proves that the
present tests are evaded. The means of reform,
upon which all other immigration reforms must
wait, lies in this shifting of the main work of
supervision and inspection to Europe. The for-
eign governments would welcome the plan, or at
least accept it if proposed by this country.
What this This system would serve to prevent the

would Ac- ^

compHsh tragedies of the excluded; would go far toward
stopping the pernicious activity of the steamship
companies and their enticing emissaries ; would
facilitate the detection and punishment of those
breakers and evaders of the law who are now
immune ; and it would make possible a quite dif-
ferent and more searching examination of intend-
ing immigrants than is possible when the mass
of them is poured out at Ellis Island, as through
the small end of a funnel. Back to the sources
is hum.ane and wise. The expense involved could
easily be met by an increased head tax; and if
not, this is a case where expense in money is not
to be counted in comparison with the country's
welfare.

Legislation and Distribution loi

These are mterestmsf propositions. Mr. Whelp- international

■ , T> T T-. , , , Regulation

ley agrees with Mr. Brandenburg as to the neces-
sity of dealing with the migrant before he reaches
port, either of embarkation or disembarkation.
He says our laws and restrictions are severe, and
thoroughly and intelligently enforced, but fall
short of their purpose for the simple reason that
there is little or no control over the source of sup-
ply. "It is an effort to beat back the tide after
it has rolled upon the shore, and in the vast mul-
titude of arrivals many gain entrance legally
whom the country would be better off without."^
His plan is to have an international regulation of
migration, so that each government will do its
part to check the present conditions and regulate
the matter at its starting point.

This subject of legislation is confessedly deli- a Higher

. . . . . standard

cate and difficult. The diversity of opinion is
confusing. Yet we cannot escape the conviction
that the present immigration is altogether too
vast for the good of the country. Suspension is
not to be seriously considered, but surely it could
do no harm to make the laws more stringent, to
insist upon a higher physical standard, to debar
degenerates, and to stop at any cost the solicita-
tion and "assisted" immigration abuses which
have caused so much suffering to the deceived
and excluded victims of greed.

' J. D. Whelpley, Tht Problem of iki Immigrant, 13.

I02 Aliens or Americans?

///. The Problem of Distribution

No phase of the immigration question is
receiving more attention at present than that of
distribution. There is a common opinion that if
the proper distribution could be made, the chief
evils of the tremendous influx would disappear.
\Ve are told that it is the congestion of aliens in
already crowded centers of population that
creates the menace to civilization ; that there is
land enough to be cultivated ; and that vast enter-
prises are under way calling for the unskilled
labor that is coming in; But the puzzling prob-
lem is how to get the immigrants where they are
wanted and needed, and can be of value. On
this point, Mr. Max Mitchell, Superintendent of
the Federation of Jewish Charities, says :

"The problem is that of overcrowding. We
must not close our ports to the people of the
Old World who seek a haven and a home in the
land of liberty and plenty, but we must see to it
that when they arrive here they are directed out
of the city and into the country places where
ordinary human industry is rewarded abundantly.
The inclination of the immigrants themselves to
stick so closely to the great centers of population
must be overcome. If the great crowds of for-
eigners that inundate these shores every year could
be distributed in a sensible and logical way over
all the vast uncultivated territory m which this

Legislation and Distribution 103

nation is so rich, we should never hear any com-
plaint of too much immigration. No better
farmers can be found anywhere than among the
foreign peoples who seek America."

Very likely, but the trouble is, they do not want
to farm and they are free to prefer the squalor
of the slums to the green of the fields. Nor is
there much hope that this singular but strong
inclination can be overcome save by government
regulation, which shall settle the matter of loca-
tion for those who have no specific destination
or occupation. It is probable that on this point
some reasonable legislation could be secured ;
especially if the various distribution societies and
railroad companies should fail in their efforts to
induce the aliens to go where they are needed.
Commissioner-General Sargent has dealt plainly
with this matter in his Reports for the last three
years, and rightly estimates its importance. He
says :i

"In my judgment the smallest part of the duty
to be discharged in successfully handling aliens,
with a view to the protection of the people and
the institutions of this country, is that part now
provided for by law. Its importance, though
undeniable, is relatively of secondary moment. It
cannot compare in practical value with, nor can
it take the place of, measures to secure the dis-
tribution of the many thousands who come in

Legislation
Required

Distribution
of Prime
Importance

^Annual Report for 1903, p. 60.

104 Aliens or Americans?

ignorance of the industrial needs and opportuni-
ties of this country, and colonize alien communi-

Infortnation

Agencies

Proposed

A Growing
Evil

Suitable legislation is strongly urged to estab-
lish agencies through which, either with or with-
out the cooperation of the states, aliens shall be
made acquainted with the resources of the coun-
try at large, and the industrial needs of the
various sections, in both skilled and unskilled
labor, the cost of living, the wages paid, the
price and capabilities of the land, the character
of the climates, the duration of the seasons —
in short, all that information furnished by some
of the great railway lines through whose efforts
the territory tributary- thereto has been trans-
formed from a wilderness within a few years to
the abiding place of a happy and prosperous
population.

"Again the importance of undertaking to dis-
tribute aliens now congregating in our large
cities to those parts of the United States where
they can secure employment without displacing
others by working for a less wage, and where
the conditions of existence do not tend to the
fostering of disease, depravity, and resistance to
the social and political security of the countr\%
is urged. The Bureau is convinced that no fea-
ture of the immigration question so insistently
demands public attention and effective action.
The evil to be removed is one that is steadily and

Legislation and Distribution 105

rapidly on the increase, and its removal will
strike at the roots of fraudulent elections, pov-
erty, disease, and crime in our large cities, and
on the other hand largely supply that increasing
demand for labor to develop the natural resources
of our country. Too much encouragement can-
not be given to the reported ef¥orts of certain rail-
way companies to divert a portion of the tide
of immigration to the Southern states. It is
impossible, in the opinion of the Bureau, to over-
estimate the importance of this subject as bearing
upon the effect of immigration on the future wel-
fare of this country."!
What are the facts concerning the present loca- '^^^^ °^

• . . . ~, Distributioi

tion and distribution of immigrants? The
answer involves a most interesting study. Tak-
ing the immigration of 1905, the chart^ on the
next page illustrates the distribution by states.

The enormous proportion going to New York, where the
Pennsylvania, and the North Atlantic section '^^^"^
shows prominently. They got ninety per cent,
of the whole, while the South received but four
per cent, of the total, and only one per cent, of
that went to the South Central States. The
Great West had only four per cent, as against
five the year preceding ; showing conclusively how
few of the million went where it would have been
far better for the entire million to have gone. It
is safe to say that there was little or no legiti-

' Annual Report for 1903, p. 58. * Idem, opposite p. 34.

io6

Aliens or Americans?

Proportion or livirviiGRATiON and nun/iber of

IN/1IV11GRANTS GOING TO EACH STATE DURING
THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JuNE 30.1905

TOTAL (.026.499

Legislation and Distribution 107

mate demand in New York, Pennsylvania, or
New England for any of them. At the same
time, there is some encouragement in the fact
that the distribution of the past fourteen years
shows that smaller proportions are now remain-
ing in the states in which are located the princi-
pal ports of entry. For example, the percentage
of New York State has steadily decreased from
forty-two per cent, in 1892 to thirty per cent, in
1905. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio
have gained proportionately.

A series of diagrams which show the distribu-
tion of the foreign-born living in the United
States in 1900, was prepared by Mr. F. W.
Hewes, for the W orld's Work, and published in
October, 1903. By the courtesy of Doubleday,
Page and Company, publishers, they are repro-
duced. Each dot in them represents a thousand
persons. They show at a glance where the immi-
grants were in 1900, and the totals by race or
nationality. By adding to these totals the remark-
able figures of the last five years, one can appre-
ciate the great increase in the Italian and Slavic
totals, and an idea of the present situation may
be obtained, for as to locality the percentages
have not materially changed.

The further point to be considered as to dis-
tribution is the effort now being made to accom-
plish desired results. In lieu of legislation or
government provision, these are (i) Societies

Diagrams to
be Studied

Protective
Societies

Aliens or Americans?

organized by individuals, and (2) Railway com-
panies. The Bureau of Information^ proposed
by the bill now in Congress would, if established,
closely cooperate with the state agencies and all
other bodies promoting distribution.
Italian Society One of the most active and efficient of these
organizations, which will serve as an illustration,
is the Society for Italian Immigrants, with head-
quarters in New York, near the Battery. The
Society thus states its purpose and methods :

"About 200,(X)0 Italian immigrants are now
landing at this port during every twelve months.
These immigrants are almost entirely poor peas-
ants who cannot speak our language. In order
that these people may get a fair start in this new
and, to them, strange country, and that they
may become familiar as soon as possible with our
laws, habits, and customs, help and instruction of
various kinds must be given them. To furnish
these either freely or at the lowest possible cost,
is the object of The Society for Italian Immi-
grants.

se^ice "Accordingly, in its work the Society employs
agents to look after the needs of the immi-
grants at Ellis Island ; it runs an escort service,
by which competent persons are furnished, at

'This bureau shall collect and furnish to all incoming aliens, data
as to the resources, products, and manufactures of each state, terri-
tory and district of the United States; the prices of land and char-
acter of soils; routes of travel and fares; opportunities of employ-
ment in the skilled and unskilled occupations rates of wage's,
cost of living, and all ether information that in the judgment of the
Commissioner-General might tend to enlighten the aliens as to the
inducements to settlement in the various sections.

Legislation and Distribution

III

nominal cost, to take immigrants to their destina-
tion ; it conducts an employment agency ; it main-
tains an information bureau ; it cooperates with
the United States authorities to enforce the
Immigration Laws ; it manages labor camps for
contractors ; it wages war on all persons engaged
in swindling immigrants ; it is engaged in break-
ing up the padrone system in all its forms ; and
lastly and generally, it does all it can to help
immigrants, so that as soon as possible they may
become self-supporting and self-respecting citi-
zens, a benefit and not a detriment to this
country."

The Society is supported by voluntary contri-
butions, and by grants to the amount of about
$7,000 a year from the Italian government.
The Society has met with the approval of the
police department of the city, the United States
authorities at Ellis Island, and the Italian Royal
Department of Emigration, and of all individuals
who have made themselves familiar with what it
is doing. There is also a Boston Italian Society,
organized in 1902, to protect newcomers from
sharpers, thieves, and fraudulent persons ; also
from the frauds of bankers and padrones. The
Italian government has given $1,000 a year to
this Society.

A similar work is done by the United Hebrew
Charities, and the Removal Bureau established

Grants from
Italian Gov>
ernment

Hebrew and

other

Societies

I by the Jews in New York in 1901.

Through this

112 Aliens or Americans?

agency in the past three years over 10,000 of the
Russian or Roumanian Jews have been kept from
increasing the overcrowded population of the
ghetto and swelling the sum of sweat-shop misery.
While the number distributed is small compared
with the steady inflow (5,525 sent out in 1903,
while 43,000 settled in New York), the work
bids fair to make itself felt, and shows an appre-
ciation by the Jews already here of the situation
and the necessity of changing it, for the sake
both of the immigrants and the country. Indus-
trial removal is now known wherever Jews are
found, and all that is jwssible is being done to
stimulate artificial distribution as the remedy for
the worst evils of unassimilated and congested
immigration.^ There are also German, Scandi-
navian and other societies, benevolent and protec-
tive, which aid in distribution.
A Chief The principal difficulty with the distribution
Obstacle g^^j^gj^g^ gQ f^j. ^g most of the prcscut-day immi-
grants are concerned, is that with the exception
of the Italians they are not fitted for agriculture,
while it is the farms that most need workers.
Another difficulty^ is that the authorities of the
various states object to receiving shipments of
immigrants from the city tenement districts,
regarding them as decidedly undesirable addi-
tions to the population. The United States

' Bemheimer, The Russian Jew in tlie United Stales, 370.
' Prescott F. Hall, Immigration, 303.

Legislation and Distribution

113

Immigration Investigating Commission asked the
governors of the different states what nationali-
ties of immigrants they desired, and in only two
cases was any desire expressed for Slavs, Latins,
Jews, or Asiatics, and these two related to Italian
farmers with money, intending to become perma-
nent settlers. The officials protest against the
shipment of southern and eastern Europeans
from the city slums into the states. Care must
be taken, too, that the immigrants do not settle
in country colonies, which would render them
almost as difficult of Americanization as though
they were colonized in the city.

The New South is already giving object lessons what the
to the country at large in the successful attrac- °
tion and utilization of the alien influx. The Four
States Immigration League, composed of repre-
sentatives of business organizations in Alabama,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, was organized
in 1903 to secure desirable immigrants for those
states. "It was keenly realized," observed the
Chattanooga Times, "that of the enormous inflow
from the old country, the number seeking homes
in the South was ridiculously small and out of all
proportion to the importance of the country and
the inducements our productive fields hold out
to home seekers." An Immigration Bureau has
been established in Chattanooga, and South Caro-
lina and other states have organized active
departments of agriculture and immigration.

Ii6 Aliens or Americans?

New Zealand
Plan

Information

Before

Embarking

The leading railway lines promise active cooper-
ation, as their interests lie positively in this direc-
tion. Some, indeed, have actively engaged in the
work of securing distribution.

The suggestion is a good one that we might
study with profit, in this connection, the methods
of New Zealand.^ There the established Depart-
ment of Labor has regarded as "its vital duty the
practical task of finding where labor was wanted
and depositing there the labor running elsewhere
to waste." To this end a widely extended system
of agencies is maintained for bringing workers
and work together, the unemployed are scattered
through the colony, and charity is refused. The
experience there shows that city people and men
of trades have been successful as farmers and
farm workers. Mr. Lord says: "It may be a
novel function of government to undertake the
distributing of labor, but it is none the less more
rational than an edict of exclusion would be, or
the tolerance of congestion and slums now is."

One thing that government can do is to make
sure that intending immigrants are fully in-
formed, in their own countries, before they start,
concerning the law^s of the United States, the
conditions of the various sections, the advantages
and drawbacks, the demand for labor and of
what kind. An official bureau of correspondence
and information would help check undesirable

' Eliot Lord, in The Italian in America, 177 ff-

Legislation and Distribution 117

Not Bars but
Guides

immigrants from coming, and distribute desirable
ones when they do come.

While the question of distribution has only BHght"
recently been taken up in earnest, its importance sida
is now realized, and there is every reason to
believe that it will receive henceforth large atten-
tion, and that wise measures will be vigorously
pushed. Remedied congestion will mean in-
creased assimilation and decreased danger. As
we review the situation, while there is much in
it that requires serious consideration and wise
action, we agree heartily with these words of
Dr. Charles L. Thompson :

"There is no need of becoming pessimistic.
Above all we should not go back on the history
of our country. We have grown great by assimi-
lation. Let us have a dignified confidence in the
power of our institutions and of our Christianity
to continue the process which has developed the
strength of the Republic. If we are true to our
principles we will be equal to any strain that may
be put upon them. Only let us see to it that our
principles — both civic and religious — are at work
in full vigor on the questions which the floodtide
of immigration raises. What we need is not
more bars to keep foreigners out but more labor-
ers to work with them and teach them how to
gather the harvest of American and Christian
liberty."!

* " The Problem of Immisration," Presbyterian Board of Publication.

Il8 Aliens or Americans?

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER III

Aim: To Study the Problems of Legislation and
Distribution Regarding Aliens

I. The Opinions of Capable Observers Regarding Leg-
islation.

1. Give the names and opinions of some who
favor restriction of immigration. Of some who
are opposed. With which do you agree?

2. The Immigration Conference of 1905 : What
was it? What did it recommend?

3. As to free admission : What are the rights
of the government? Of the individual?

4. What does President Rooseveh recommend?

II. Proposed Legislation.

5. What abuses specially need to be corrected?

6. Name the chief provisions of the "Gardner
Bill," before Congress in 1906.

7. * Give reasons for and against a reading test

Would you have voted for it or against?

8. Describe and give your opinion of other pro-
posed methods of restricting immigration.

9. Would it be possible to sift immigrants before
they leave Europe?

III. Distribution.

ID. How much can be done toward a wider dis-
tribution of the stream of immigrants?

11. Where do the larger numbers now settle? In
what cities? What states?

12. What Societies are helping them to find better
locations ?

13. What special efforts are being made by some
Southern states?

14. How does New Zealand deal with this ques-
tion? Can we copy that plan?

Legislation and Distribution 119

15. * What spirit is needed in dealing with the

whole problem?

16. Can you tell of any special endeavors to bring
about better control or direction of immigra-
tion?

References for Advanced Study. — Chapter III
1. Further Study of Opinions of United States Immi-
gration Officials.

See Commissioner-General's Annual Report, fur-
nished free from Washington upon application to
the "Commissioner of Immigration." Report of
1902, pp. 59, 60. Report of 1904, pp. 37-47, 123-136.
Report of 1904, pp. 61-70. Report of 1905, pp. 58,
75-78.

II. Provisions and Fate of Legislation of 1906 Pro-
posed in Congress.

Text of "Gardner Bill" and Journal of the House
for June 25, 1906, can be secured by writing to
Washington.

III. Eznls of Undistributed Immigration.
Warne : The Slav Invasion, IV, V.
Hunter : Poverty, VI.

Lord, et al : The Italian in America, IV, X.

IV. Efforts to Secure Wider Distribution of Immi-
grants.

Hall : Immigration, XIII.

Lord, et al: The Italian in America, VII, IX.

To know anything about the actual
character of recent and present immigra-
tion, we must distinguish the many and
very diverse elements of which it is
composed. — Samuel McLanahan.

THE NEW IMMIGRATION

121

The world never before saw anything comparable to
this tremendous movement of people in so short a space
of time. The population Europe has lost in a hundred
years is greater than the total number of inhabitants
of Great Britain and Ireland in i860, and only a little
less than that of the United States in the same year.
It is equal to three fifths of the total population of
Europe in the time of Augustus Qesar. If the ships
carried five hundred passengers on the average, about
fifty thousand trips have been made in the transfer.

Emphatically too many people are now coming over
here; too many of an undesirable sort. In 1902 over
seven tenths were from races who do not rapidly assimi-
late with the customs and institutions of this country.
—Prescott F. Hall.

There are two classes w^ho would pass upon the immi-
gration question. One says, "Close the doors and let in
nobody;" and the other says, "Open wide the doors and
let in everybody." I am in sympathy with neither of
these classes. There is a happy middle path — a path
of discernment and judgment. — Commissioner Robert
Watchorn of New York.

Just as a body cannot with safety accept nourishment
any faster than it is capable of assimilating it, so a
state cannot accept an excessive influx of people without
serious injury. — H. H. Boyesen.

It seems to me our only concern about immigration
should be as to its character. We do not want Europe's
criminals or paupers. The time to make selection is in
Europe, prior to embarkation. — United States Senator
Hansbrough.

THE NEW IMMIGR.\TION

/. N'czv Peoples and Nezv Problems
00 great has been the change in the racial char-
acter of immigration within the last ten years
that the term "new immigration" has been used
to distinguish the present prevailing type from
that of former years. By new immigration we
mean broadly all the aliens from southeastern
Europe— the Italians, Flungarians, Slavs, He-
brews, Greeks, and Syrians — as distinguished
from the northwestern Europeans — the English,
Scotch, Welsh, Irish, French, Germans, and
Scandinavians. The ethnic authorities at Wash-
ington make the following racial division, which
is iised in the official reports :

"Ninety-five per cent, of the immigration to this
country comes from Europe. Most of these dif-
ferent races or peoples, or more properly sub-
divisions of race, coming from Europe have been
grouped into four grand divisions, as follows :

"Teutonic division, from northern Europe : German,
Scandinavian, English, Dutch, Flemish, and Finnish.

"Iberic division, from southern Europe : South Italian,
Greek, Portuguese, and Spanish : also Syrian from
Turkey in Asia.

"Celtic division, from western Europe : Irish, Welsh,
Scotch, French, and North Italian.

123

Change of
Racial Type

Race

Classification

124 Aliens or Americans.^

"Slavic division, from eastern Europe: Bohemian,
Moravian, Bulgarian, Servian, Montenegrin, Croatian,
Slovenian, Dalmatian, Bosnian, Herzegovinian, Hebrew,
Lithuanian, Polish, Roumanian, Russian, Ruthenian, and
Slovak.

"The Mongolia division has also been added, to in-
clude Chinese, Japanese, Korean, East Indian, Pacific
Islander, and Filipino.

"Under 'all others' have been included Magj'ar, Turk-
ish, Armenian, African (black), and subdivisions native
to the Western Hemisphere."

This new immigration has been commonly
regarded as either decidedly undesirable or at
least distinctly less desirable than the Teutonic
and Celtic, which for so many years practically
had the field of America to itself. It has not been
uncommon to group the Italians and Slavs, and
denominate them as the "offscouring and refuse
of Europe," now dumped into America, which is
described as a sort of world "garbage bin."
Extremists have drawn in gloomy colors the
effects of this inrush of the worst and most
illiterate and unassimilable elements of the Old
World. A distinct prejudice has undoubtedly
been created against these later comers.

There is unquestionably some ground for the
feeling that the new immigration is in many
respects less desirable than the older type. These
peoples come out of conditions of oppression and
depression, illiteracy and poverty. Far more
important than this, they have had no contact

The New Immigration

^ en

til

A77yd/Mll/d JU.TJO AllVdliNiyd MV7P

126

Aliens or Americans?

with Anglo-Saxon ideas or government. They
are consequently almost wholly ignorant of
American ideals and standards. There is a vast
difference between the common ideas of these
immigrants and those from the more enlightened
and progressive northern nations. So there is
in the type of character and the customs and
manners.

The Older -^y^ sufficiently familiar with the older

Type of

immifrration type, and do not need here to dwell upon
it. We know how large a part has been played
in the development of our national material enter-
prises by the Germans, the English and Irish,
the Scotch and Welsh, the Swedes and Nor-
wegians. Millions of them are among the loyal
Americans of to-day. The Irish originally came
to perform the unskilled labor of America.
Their women made the domestics, and many of
them still rule the American kitchen. But the
Irish men have moved up, into bosses and con-
tractors, into the stores and trades and profes-
sions, and especially into politics, until they prac-
tically run the cities and have a lion's share of the
governmental positions. The Germans have \
always been among the best of our immigrant
population in intelligence, thrift, and other quali-
ties that make the German nation strong and '
stable. They have Germanized us more than we
have Americanized them. The Scandinavians
have with excellent judgment distributed them-

The New Immigration 127

selves and gone largely into agriculture. All
these north of Europe peoples belong to a com-
mon inheritance of principles and ideas, and all
have found it natural to assimilate into American
life. America owes a large debt to them, as they
do to the land that has become their own by
adoption.

But what can be said about this new immigra- Necessity of

. „. , , r , . Discrimina-

tion? First let us see how great the change m ^^on

racial character has been, and then diflferentiate
these new races. It will not do to brand any race
as a whole. Discrimination is absolutely neces-
sary if we are to deal with this subject practically
and justly. There are Italians and Italians,
Slavs and Slavs, just as there are all sorts of
Irish, Germans, and Americans. No race has a
monopoly of either virtue or vice. This table
will help us to differentiate the millions of immi-
grants since 1820 as to race :

Netherlands 146,168 Gennany 5.187.092

France 428,894 United Kingdom, Great Bri-

Switzerland 220,199 tain and Ireland 7,286,434

Denmark, Norway, and Russia 1,452,629

Sweden 1,730,722 Countries not speciHed 2,130,756

Italy 2,000,252 China 288,398

Japan 8a 908

To appreciate the significance of these figures, Remarkable
it must be remembered that while the totals from ^'^''^""^
the United Kingdom and Germany amount to
nearly twelve and a half millions, or considerably
more than one half of the entire immigration
down to 1905, the proportions have been rapidly

128

Aliens or Americans?

changing. The immigration from the United
Kingdom, for example, reached its highest point
in 185 1, when the total was 272,740, predomi-
nantly from Ireland. The German immigration
reached high mark in 1887, the total being 250,-
630. On the other hand, the immigration from
Italy did not reach 10,000 until 1880, and passed
the 100,000 mark first in 1900. In the past five
years nearly a million Italians — or one half of
the entire Italian immigration — have entered the
country, and the number in 1906 promises to
exceed a quarter of a million more. The highest
mark was 233,546 in 1903 ; but even this did not
equal the birth-rate in Italy. In Hungary- and
Russia, also, the birth-rate is greater than the
immense drain of immigration, so that this stream
will continue to flow and increase, unless some
check is put upon it, or some legislative dam
built. The immigration from Russia, consisting
chiefly of Jews, did not become appreciable until
1887, when it reached 30,766. It passed 100,000
in 1902 ; and from 1900 to 1905 the total arrivals
were 748,522, or just about one half the entire
number of Jews in the United States. The same
is true of the Hungarian and Slav immigration.
Its prominence has come since 1890.
The Inferior The point of importance to be considered
Superior^* is that as the immigration from southeastern
Europe has increased, that from northwestern
Europe has decreased. In 1869 not one per

The New Immigration 129

cent, of the total immigration came from Aus-
tria-Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Russia, while
in 1902 the percentage was over seventy. In
1869 nearly three quarters of the total immigra-
tion came from the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, and Scandinavia ; in 1902 only one fifth
was from those countries. The proportion has
held nearly the same since.

The change is indicated most plainly in this
table, which compares the total immigration of
certain nationalities for the period 1821 to 1902
with that for the year 1903 :

1821 to 1902 1903

Country Number Per cent Number Per eent

AuBtria-Hungary 1,316,914 6.S 206,011 24.00

England, Wales. 2,730,037 13.4 26,219 3.1

Germany 5,098,005 25.0 40,086 4.7

Ireland 4944,269 19.3 35,300 4.1

Italy 1,358,507 6.7 230,622 26.9

Norway, Sweden 1,334,931 6.5 70,489 8.2

Ru«ia, Poland 1,106,362 5.4 136,093 15.9

This table shows not only the nations which
have added chiefly to our population in the past,
and which are adding to-day, but how the per-
centage of each has varied in the period before
1903 compared with 1903. Mr. Hall says: "If
the same proportions had obtained in the earlier
period as during the later how different might
our country and its institutions now be !"

This brings up the question of type, of char- The Problem
acter, and of homogeneity. The new immigra- Race stocks
tion introduces new problems. The older immi-
gration, before 1870, was chiefly composed of

Change in

Source

I30

Aliens or Americans?

races kindred in habits, institutions, and tradi-
tions to the original colonist.^ To-day we face
decidedly different conditions. At the same time
study of these comparatively unknown races will
bring us many surprises, and knowledge of the
facts is the only remedy for prejudice and the
only basis for constructive Qiristian work. We
must know something, moreover, of the Old
World environment before we can judge of the
probable development of these peoples in Amer-
ica, or learn the way of readiest access to them.
For they will not become Americanized unless
they are in some warv- reached by Americans ; and
they will never be reached until they are under-
stood.

//. Th-e Italians

Extremes of In ouf morc detailed study of the new immi-
opinion gration we take first the Italians, who are seen
wherever one turns in our cities, and are f)erhaps
the most conspicuous of the immigrants. Here
we come at once upon two extremes of opinion.
One extreme finds little or nothing that is favor-
able to the Italians, who are classed all together
and judged in the light of the ^lafia, or "black
hand," ready for all deeds of darkness. The
other lauds these aliens so highly that an Italian

'For a condensed characterization of the north of Europe immi-
grants read the chapter on Racial Conditions in Immigration (chap.
III.) The leading traits of the various immigrant peoples are
set forth with fairness and discrimination, although probably none
of those described would see themselves exactly as Mr. Hall sees
them.

The New Immigration 131

himself said to the writer, referring to a recent
book about his people in America :i "I suppose
I ought to be glad to have us all made out to be
saints, but I am afraid there is another side to
the story." We shall hope to find the truth
between these extremes. This has to be admitted,
on the start, that in most cases those who have
most to do with the Italians, of whatever class,
become warmly interested in them, and believe
both in their ability and in their adaptability to
American life.

When so keen a writer as Emil Reich, in dis- a Gifted Race
cussing "The Future of the Latin Races," in the
Contemporary Revieiv, says, "there can be little
doubt tliat the Italians are the most gifted nation
in Europe," we see that it is a mistake to class
all Italians as alike and put them under the ban
of contempt as "dagoes." They differ from
one another almost as much as men can differ
who are still of the same color, says a recent
writer.2

Most northern Italians are of tlie Alpine Marked
race and have short, broad skulls ; southern Ital- Betwee
ians are of the Mediterranean race and have long. North and
narrow skulls. Between the two lies a broad
strip of country, peopled by those of mixed blood.
In appearance the Italians may be anything from
a tow-headed Teuton to a swarthy Arab. Vary-
ing with the district from which he comes, in

^The Italian in America. 'John Foster Caxr in Outlook.

132 Aliens or Americans?

manner he may be rough and boisterous ; suave,
fluent, and gesticulative ; or grave and silent.
These differences extend to the very essentials
of life. The provinces of Italy are radically
unlike, not only in dress, cookery, and customs,
but in character, thought, and speech. A distinct
change of dialect is often found in a morning's
walk. An ignorant \'altellinese from the moun-
tains of the north, and an ignorant Neapolitan
have as yet no means of understanding each
other ; and what is yet more remarkable, the
speech of the unschooled peasant of Genoa is
unintelligible to his fellow of Piedmont, who
lives less than one hundred miles away.

The northern Italian is the result of a superior
environment. His section is more prosperous,
intelligent, orderly, and modem. The industrially
progressive, democratic north presents a striking
contrast to the industrially stagnant, feudal south.
The northern division is full of the spirit of the
new Italy, and its people are less prone to leave
home. Central Italy, too, is making steady
advances in agriculture and education, and the
peasant farmer is a stay-at-home. In southern
Italy agriculture is practically the sole reliance
of the people, the lot of tlie day laborers is
wretched, and the failure of a wheat crop is as
disastrous as the potato famine in Ireland was to
the Irish in 1847. United Italy is undoubtedly
making progress in education and industry, the

The New Immigration 133

standards of living are rising, and the money sent
or carried back to Italy from America has helped
to some degree in this advancement. Religiously,
of course, the domination of the Roman Catholic
Church continues over all Italy, and in illiteracy
as in other respects Italy is an example of what
this ecclesiastical rule means where it has power
over the people sufficient to enable it to work its
will.

In view of these facts regarding the home common

. 1 . .,, Poverty of the

environment and diiference m peoples, it will not peasants
do, evidently, to use sweeping generalizations, or
to regard the organ-grinder and fruit-peddler
as the representatives of Italy in America. We
receive all grades, from cultured professionals to
illiterate peasants, though mainly, of course, the
peasant class. The one common feature of the
Italian provinces is the poverty produced by the
crushing taxes and agricultural depression.
Absentee landlordism has blighted southern
Italy as it has Ireland. Yet with great tracts of
fertile soil thus held away from the people, and
with no new territory to cultivate, the population
of Italy has increased within twenty years from
twenty-eight and a half to thirty-two and a half
millions, an average density of 301 per square
mile, and the excess of births over deaths
amounts to nearly 350,000 a year. Hence the
question with the people in overcrowded districts
is simply emigration or starvation. The southern

134 Aliens or Americans?

Italian is driven from home by necessity to work,
and work is to be found in America, so he comes.
His labor is mostly unskilled, and this is in
demand here. The result is that almost eighty
per cent, of the Italian immigrants are males ;
over eighty per cent, are between fourteen and
forty-five, the working age ; over eighty per cent,
are from the southern provinces, and nearly the
same percentage are unskilled laborers, and a
large majority of these are illiterates. The eighty
per cent, of "human capital of fresh, strong
young men" is Italy's contribution to America,
and is a force winning its way to recognition.
Figures of ug j^Q^g ^j^g growth of Italian immigration,

Italian Immi- . t i •

gration its sourccs, and its distribution. In the sixty

years from 1820 to 1880 only 68,633 Italians
made their way to America, while during this
period the total foreign immigration was over
ten millions. The census of 1890 gave the Italian
population of the United States as only 182,580,
and at that date not over a half million in all had
come here. The rapid increase during recent
years is shown in the following table :

IMMIGRATION FROM ITALY TO THE UNITED STATES

1890 52.003 1S98 58.613

1891 76.055 1899 77.419

1892 61.631 1900 100.135

1893 72.145 1901 135.996

1894 42.977 1902 178.375

1895 35.427 1903 230.622

1896 68.060 1904 193,296

1897 59.431 1905 221.479

The New Immigration 135

This shows how steady and remarkable the
immigration has been since 1900. In five years
959,768 Italians have come to this country.
Surely it is worth our while to know more par-
ticularly the character of this million and their
promise as an element in our civilization. Thou-
sands of them are "birds of passage" — that is,
they come and go, earning money here and going
back home to spend it and then returning to earn
more ; but tens of thousands come to stay, and
will play their part in shaping our future.

The distribution of the Italians is shown
partially in the accompanying diagram.^ This,
however, is based upon the Census of 1900, and
does not account for the million arrivals since
1900. The destination clause in the immigrant's
manifesto gives light upon the matter of distribu-
tion, although the incomer does not always get
to the point named in his papers. From the offi-
cial report for 1905 these results are drawn:

North South

Locality Italian Italian Total

New York 9,733 81.572 91.305

New Jersey 1.272 11.494 12.766

Pennsylvania 7,554 43,078 50,632

Connecticut 1.626 5.835 7.461

MaisachuBetts 2.011 11.747 13.758

Rhode Island 196 2.422 2.618

lUinola 3.663 6,685 10,348

Ohio 861 6,230 7.091

Michigan 1,330 1,649 2,979

West Virginia 421 2,987 3,408

Louisiana 177 2,631 2,808

Missouri 769 1,477 2,246

Mississippi 674 213 887

Eight Southern States 467 1.036 1,503

Oalifomia 4.513 1,081 5.594

Colorado 824 881 1,705

■See page 146.

Remarkable
Increase

Distribution of
Italians

13^ Aliens or Americans?

Largely in
Cities

Italians
and Irish
Compared

It is interesting to note that at least one Italian
immigrant was destined to everj- state and terri-
tory. Of the total Italian population in this
country- in 1900, 62.4 per cent, was in the 160
principal cities, and nearly one half in New York
alone. The percentage of Italians attracted to
the cities is about the same as that of the Irish.

An interesting parallel, indeed, may be drawn
between these races. The Italians to-day occupy
largely the place occupied by the Irish of yester-
day. The Irish came in the earlier years by
reason of distressing conditions at home, forc-
ing them to seek a living elsewhere ; this is now
true of the Italians. The Irish were chiefly peas-
ants, unskilled laborers and illiterate ; so are
the Italians. The Irish came mainly from agri-
cultural sections and herded in the great cities ;
so do the Italians. The handy weapon of the
Irish was the shillalah, that of the Italian is the
stiletto. The Irish found ready emplo}Tnent by
reason of the demand for cheap unskilled labor
created by the vast material enterprises of a
swiftly developing country, with cities and towns
and railroads to build ; this work is done by the
Italians now, and they are commonly conceded to
be in many respects better at the job. Here is a
sample of the kind of testimony frequently given
concerning them as workers:^

"I have learned to be cautious in comparing

'Dr. S. H. Lee in Baptist Home Mission Monthly, for May, 1905.

The New Immigration 137

races. I find good, bad, and indifferent people in Good vvoricers
all races. But I dissent from the current notion
that the southern Italian is so much inferior to
the northern. As a people there is more illiteracy
among them ; but when he goes to school the
southern Italian holds his own with the northern.
Another fact of promise is that Italians have not
lost the spirit of service. They are good work-
men. Not long since, asking a contractor who
was building a sewer in the city why he had only
Italians in his employ, he replied, 'Because they
are the best workmen, and there are enough of
them. If an Italian down in that ditch has a
shovelful of earth half way up when the whistle
blows for dinner, he will not drop it; he will
throw it up ; the Irishman and the French-Cana-
dian will drop it. And when the lunch hour is
over, when the clock strikes the Italian will be
leaning on his shovel ready to go to work, but
the Irishman will be out under that tree and he
will be three minutes getting to his job, and
three minutes each, for 150 men, is not a small
item.' The Italian does not regard his employer
as his natural enemy. He has the spirit of kindly
service."

The writer can confirm this from personal cheerful and
observation. The Italians are cheerful workers,
and on hand ten to fifteen minutes before the
hour to begin work. They relish a kind word,
and can give lessons in politeness to many an

138 Aliens or Americans?

Flower of the
Peasantry

Demand for

Unskilled

l^abor

American-born. Ask anyone brought in contact
with them and you will get the same testimony.

According to Adolfo Rossi, Supervisor of the
Italian Immigration Department, who is deeply
interested in the proper distribution and welfare
of his countrymen in America, these immigrants
are the flower of the laboring class of Italy,
Economically they are doubtless of value at so
many dollars per head. But of far more impor-
tance is the question, what are they in the social
fabric? If, as some assert, the Italian race stock
is inferior and degraded, if it will not assimilate
naturally with the American, or will tend to lower
our standards, then it is undesirable, even though
the immigrant had a bank account in addition to
his sturdy body. The further one investigates the
subject, the less likely is he to conclude that the
Italian is to be adjudged undesirable, as a race.
He must be judged individually on his merits.

Mr. Carr draws a decidedly favorable picture
of the Italians, whether from north or south. He
says that immediate work and high wages, and
not a love for the tenement, create our "Little
Italics." The great enterprises in progress in
and about the city, the subway, tunnels, water-
works, railroad construction, as well as the ordi-
nary building operations, call for a vast army of
laborers. It is the educated Italian immigrant
without a manual trade who fails in America.
The illiterate laborer takes no chances. The

The New Immigration

139

migratory laborer — for more than 98,000 ItaHans
went back to Italy in 1903, and 134,000 in 1904 —
confers an industrial blessing by his very mobil-
ity. Then, in his opinion, there is something to
be said for the illiterates who remain here. They
are never anarchists ; they are guiltless of the
so-called "black hand" letters. The individual
laborer is, in fact, rarely anything but a gentle
and often a rather dull drudge. More than this,
our school system deprives us of unskilled labor- ^
ers. The gangs that dig sewers and subways and
build railways are recruited from the illiter-
ate or nearly so, and for our supply of the lower
grades of labor we must depend upon countries
with a poorer school system than ours.

Concerning the charge that the Italian is a Favorable
degenerate, lazy and a pauper, half a criminal, companso
a menace to our civilization, it is shown that in
New York the Italians number about 450,000,
the Irish over 300,000. In males the Italians out-
number the Irish two to one. Consider these
facts : In 1904 one thousand five hundred and
sixty-four Irish, and only sixteen Italians, were
admitted to the almshouse on Blackwell's Island.^
Mr. James Forbes, chief of the Mendicancy
Department of the Qiarity Organization Soci-
ety, says he has never seen or heard of an Italian
tramp. In reply to this, those who dislike the
Italians say that their cheap labor has made

* Location of various public institutions of New York City.

140 Aliens or Americans?

Italians Not
Beggars

Few Insane

tramps of many who would otherwi3e be em-
ployed. As for begging, between July i, 1904,
and September 30, 1905, the Mendicancy Police
in New York took into custody 519 Irish and
only 92 Italians. This table will be found inter-
esting :

NATIVITY OF PERSONS ADMITTED TO ALMSHOUSE (NEW YORK) IN
1900

Male Female Total

United States 355 199 554

Ireland 808 809 1,617

England and Wales Ill 87 198

Scotland 25 14 39

France 19 2 21

Gennany 290 84 374

Norway, Sweden and Denmark 22 6 28

Italy 15 4 19

Other Countries 50 36 86

1,695 1,241 2,936

This ought to correct some ideas as to where
the pauperism comes from. Certainly the Ital-
ians are not to be charged with it. Conditions
in Boston show equally well for the Italians. The
proportions for the whole countn,' also give tliera
a remarkably low degree as compared with other
races.

As to insanity, the figures tell their own story :
In the charitable institutions of the countr}-, there
were of the insane : Irish, 5,943 ; Germans, 4.408 ;
English, 1,822; Scandinavians, 1,985; and Ital-
ians, 718. As shown by the analysis of the
Bureau of Immigration, the proportion of Irish
in the charitable institutions is 30 per cent., of
Germans 19, of English 8.5, while the Italians
and Hebrews are each 8 per cent.

The New Immigration

141

The important point of crime remains to be
considered. Here the Italian is commonly rated
very high, by reason of the violent and conspicu-
ous nature of most of his crimes, which are
against the person. We hear of the brutal mur-
ders, the threats of the Mafia, the secret assassi-
nations, and frequent sanguinary stiletto affrays,
and are apt to regard the whole race as quarrel-
some and murderous. The facts do not bear out
this opinion. Here again they appear rather to
the disadvantage of the older type of immigrant.
The United States Industrial Commission on
Immigration shows, by its statistical report,^
that "taking the United States as a whole, the
whites of foreign birth are a trifle less criminal
than the total number of whites of native birth."
This report further says : "Taking the inmates of
all penal and charitable institutions, we find that
the highest ratio is shown by the Irish, whose
proportion is more than double the average for
the foreign-born, amounting to no less than
16,624 to the million."

By far the greatest proportion of crime is
caused by intemperance, and here the Italians
are at a decided advantage, for they are
among the least intemperate of the foreign peo-
ples, and far less so than the average native-born.
Arrests for drunkenness are exceedingly rare
among them, and a drunken Italian woman is as

Criminal
Record

Italians
Temperate

'Industrial Commission Report to Congress, Dec. 5, 1901.

142 Aliens or Americans?

rare as one of immoral character. While in
Massachusetts three in a hundred of the northern
races, mcluding the Scotch, Irish, English, and
Germans, were arrested for intemperance in a
given year, only three in a thousand of the Ital-
ians were arrested on this charge. In these
respects the race is deserving of great com-
mendation, especially in face of the tenement con-
ditions into which most of the newcomers are
thrust. If they become worse in America than
they were when they came, we ought to take heed
to the sins of greed, and not put all the blame on
the aliens.

In crimes against the person the Italians are
at their worst, but the affrays with knives and
pistols are confined mostly to their own national-
ity, and grow out of jealousy or rivalry or resent-
ment at fancied injuries. "There are, no doubt,"
says Dr. S. J. Barrows/ "murders of sheer bru-
tality, or those committed in the course of rob-
bery. There are known instances also of black-
mail and dastardly assassination by individuals
or bands of ruffians. But such outrages are
utterly at variance with the known disposition
of the great mass of the Italians in this country.
There are vile men in every nationality, and it
does not appear by any substantial evidence that
the Italian is peculiarly burdened, though it has
been unwarrantably reproached through ignor-

^The Italian in America, 215, 216.

The New Immigration

143

ance or prejudice." This is the opinion of an
expert in criminology, who has traveled exten-
sively in Italy and knows the people on both sides
of the sea.

It is a fact of importance that the great major-
fty of the Italian immigrants, while classed as
unskilled, have had some experience in farming
or gardening or home industries of some kind.
There is a larger percentage of skilled labor than
is commonly supposed, and the list is interesting.
The Annual Report on Immigration for 1905,
for example, gives the distribution by occupation,
from which we take some of the leading classes :

PROFESSIONS, TRADES AND INDUSTRIES OF THE ITALIANS
ADMITTED IN 1905

North South
Italy Italy

Occupation

North
Italy

South
Italy

Engineers, profeeeional

Lawyers

Literan,' and scientific

persons

240

Physicians

Sculptors and artists. .

116

Teachers

Bakers

201

571

1,718

168

909

278

Carpenters and cabinet

makers

Dressmakers

Gardeners

Masons

Miners

Shoemakers

Stonecutters

Tailors

Farm laborers

Farmers

Manufacturers

Merchants and dealers.

Servants

Laborers

No occupation, includ-
ing children under 14

367
161
30
1,374
1,843
287
409
239
6,181
1,397
14
557
2,752
14,291

1,857
615
165
3,161
492
4,004
567
2,591
60,529
4,814
32
1,415
8,669
56,040

7,632 32,115

It will be seen that not all the Italians who
come are mere hewers of wood and drawers of
water; while there is a distinct tendency on the
part of those who begin at the bottom of drudg-
ery, in the subways of American civilization, to

Italians not
all Unskilled

Tendency to
Advance

144 Aliens or Americans?

Desire for advance. The desire for education and better-
Education . . . , r 1 -K-

ment is as manifest as it is hopeful. No parents
are more ambitious for their children, or more
'devotedly attached to them, than are the Italian
immigrants who have brought over their fami-
lies, and no children in our schools are brighter
or more attentive. There is good blood in the
Italian strain. They are an art and music-loving
people, and in this respect the southern Italians
take the lead. They come from a land of beauty
and fame, song and sunshine, and bring a sunny
temperament not easily soured by hardship or
disappointment. Otherwise the tenement and
labor-camp experiences in America would soon
spoil them. With the exception of the money
they earn, the change has been for the worse.
Amazing j^ie thrift of the Italians is proverbial. To

Thrift ...

earn and save money they will live in conditions
unsanitary, unhealthy, and degrading. It is not
because they love dirt and degradation, but that
they want money so much that they will put up
with anything to get it. They can live and save
a bit where an American family would starve.
The}- have fairly monopolized for a time certain
lines into which they entered — as the small fruit
trade, the bootblacking business, and other pur-
suits. It is said that they have made the Ameri-
cans a fruit-eating people. Supplanted in the
street-vending of fruit by the Greek, the Italian
has gone into business in earnest, and you find the

The New Immigration 145

small fruit stands everywhere, with always a
good stock, and by no means a low price. As
barbers and tailors, too, the Italians are becom-
ing known. They have a passion for land, and
acquire property rapidly. Take the increase of
their real estate holdings in New York as
an example. Mr. G. Tuoti, a representative
Italian operator in real estate, says that twenty
years ago there was not a single Italian owner
of real estate in the districts where such owners
now predominate. He has a list of more than
800 landowners of Italian descent, whose aggre-
gate holdings in New York are approximately
$15,000,000.^

As to Italian savings and investments in the Property
same city, Mr. Gino C. Speranza, vice-president
of the Society for Italian Immigrants, finds on
computation the Italian investments in the city
savings-banks to total more than $15,000,000.
He puts the real estate holdings at 4,000, of the
clear value of $20,000,000. He estimates that
10,000 stores in the city are owned by Italians, and
sets their value at $7,000,000, with a further
investment of as much more in wholesale busi-
ness. He makes the total material value of the
property of the Italian colony in New York to be
over $60,000,000, and says this value is relatively
below that of the Italian possessions in Saint
Louis, Boston, and Chicago. The Italian Cham-

'G. Tuoti, in The Italian in America, 78.

146 Aliens or Americans?

The New Immigration 147

ber of Commerce has over two hundred members,
and has done much to promote the interests
of the immigrants. There is one distinctively
Italian Savings Bank, with an aggregate of
deposits approximating $1,100,000, and about
7,000 open accounts. Sixteen daily and weekly
Italian newspapers in New York alone indicate
that the people are reading, and that not all are
illiterates by any means. The Italian Hospital,
the Italian Benevolent Institute, and over 150
Italian societies for mutvial aid and social improve-
ment— all this in New York — indicate a degree
of enterprise and progress. In the smaller cities
the condition of the Italians is in many respects
much better than in the great centers, since the
tenement evils are escaped. The reports from
such cities as Bridgeport, Connecticut, and
Schenectady, New York, are most favorable as
to the general character of the Italians as faithful
workers and peaceful residents.

In the cities and on the small farms of the increasing
South and West the prosperity of the Italians is
marked. They take unproductive land and make
it fertile soil for truck-gardening, and have in-
creased the value of surrounding lands in Louisi-
ana and other states by showing what can be
done. If they can be distributed properly, and
gotten out of the congested city wards, there is
unquestionably a future of prosperity for them.
A Texas colony described by Signor Rossi, who

148 Aliens or Americans?

Successful
Truck Farmers

A Good
Proposition

recently investigated conditions with view to
securing a better distribution by informing
intending emigrants as to the openings for them
in agricultural sections, illustrates the success of
the Italians as gardeners and farmers.

In the neighborhood of San Francisco Italians
have cultivated about 250 truck farms. They
"obtain the manure from the city stables gratis,
and transform into fertile farms the original sand
dunes." Nearly all our cities where Italians have
settled are receiving vegetables and fruit as the
product of Italian labor, and the Italian is first
in the market. They are found on Long Island
and Staten Island, in New Jersey and Delaware,
in Virginia, and in all the New England states.
Near Memphis, Tennessee, there is a large and
noted colony of truck farmers, and they have
done much to remove the prejudice formerly
existing against Italian labor in the South.^ In
this connection we give hearty second to the
statesmanlike proposition made by a Christian
worker who has been brought into close touch
with the Italians and other foreign peoples in
Brooklyn

"Pure philanthropy could not find a better field
for the investment of a few hundred thousand
dollars than in the organization of farm and

*A remarkable showing of what the Italians have accomplished
through these farming colonies in various parts of the country is given
in the chapter "On Farm and Plantation, " in The Italian in America.

*Rev. E. P. Farnham, D.D., in New York Examiner, June 22,
1906.

The New Immigration 149

garden colonies a few miles out from our great
city. On Long Island there are many thousands
of acres of light, arable land perfectly adapted
to the raising of small fruits and garden prod-
ucts. Irrigation plants could be provided at
moderate cost, insuring generous crops. The
Italian is prepared by nature, and by training in
his own home land, for the cultivation of the soil.
In a small way he has demonstrated his ability
in the land of his adoption to do the very things
here suggested. What he needs is a fair chance.

"What is needed is the guiding hand of strong Quid-
'philanthropy and five per cent.' to lead out of the Needed
congested and squalid tenement districts thou-
sands of these poor yet industrious people who
could make our deserts of Long Island sand and
scrub oak blossom as the rose. Let the modern
method find illustration here. Let our philan-
thropist choose for himself a board of trustees
to whom should be delegated the management
of a generous fund toward the end proposed.
Keen-minded and great-hearted business men
there are who would delight to give time and
care to so worthy an object ; and within five
years a colony of 25,000 Italians could be trans-
ported and translated from the ghettos and filthy,
crowded tenement districts of our great city into
God's open country', there to be speedily trans-
formed into industrious, self-supporting Amer-
ican citizens. Having studied this problem for

Aliens or Americans?

The Crucial
Point

Opportunity
of Wealth

Favorable
Conclusion

years, I believe it is entirely feasible. Brain and
heart, time and talent, land and water, enlarging
markets demanding produce, men, women, and
children begging for an opportunity to earn a
decent living — all these are ready and waiting
for use and service. All that is lacking is an
adequate supply of good money to set the enter-
prise in motion. We have millions invested at
Coney Island, at Gravesend racing track, and at
the new Belmont Park, to beguile and hypnotize
the masses. God must have in his keeping some-
where millions to uplift and redeem the masses.
There is unspeakable need that they be ministered
unto in the spirit of the Master."

These are weighty and practical words, and
some day Christian men of wealth will see the
wisdom of them. How could American prosper-
ity better insure itself and all it represents for
the future?

What, then, is the conclusion of our study?
On the whole, decidedly favorable to the Italian,
while recognizing the vicious and undesirable
element that forms a comparatively small part of
the whole. The Italian in general is approach-
able, receptive to American ideas, not criminal
by nature more than other races, not difficult to
adapt himself to new environment, and eager to
earn and learn. He furnishes excellent raw
material for American citizenship, if he does not
come too rapidly to be Americanized. But what

The New Immigration

he will mean to America, for good or ill, depends
almost wholly upon what America does foi- and
with and through him. Thus far, there has been
too much of prejudice and neglect. Better
acquaintance is the first step toward the trans-
formation of the Italian alien into the Italian-
American.

As for the religious side, here is testimony
from a Roman Catholic source. Mrs. Betts
says :^

"The relation between the Roman Catholic
Church and the mass of the Italians in this coun-
try is a source of grief. Reluctantly the writer
has to blame the ignorance and bigotry of the
immigrant priests who set themselves against
American influence ; men who too often lend
themselves to the purposes of the ward heeler,
the district leader in controlling the people, who
too often keep silence when the poor are the
victims of the shrewd Italians who have grown
rich on the ignorance of their countrymen. One
man made $8,000 by supplying 1,000 laborers to
a railroad. He collected $5 from each man as a
railroad fare, though transportation was given
by the road, and $3 from each man for the
material to build a house. The men supposed it
was to be a home for their families. They found
as a home the wretched shelters provided by con-
tractors, with which we are all familiar. This

1 University Settlement Studies, December, 1905.

Roman

Catholic

Testimony

152

Aliens or Americans?

transaction, when known, did not disturb the
Church or social relations of the offender, but it
increased his political power, for it showed what
he could do. He is recognized to-day as the

Mayor of street ; his influence is met

everywhere."

Accessible to There is no doubt that the Italians are acces-

Evangelism

sible to evangelical Christianity. Thousands of
them appreciate the true character of the Church
that tried to prevent Italian unity and liberty, and
they are peculiarly open to the truths of democ-
racy and the gospel. The home missionary finds
among them a fruitful field. Dr. Lee expresses
the conclusions of many observers, and indicates
also a gate of personal opportunity to serve,
when he says, as a result of personal observation
and effort:

Exceptionally "Incident to the general recoil from the papal

OpeD-mioded ° f r

control, an enormous number of the Italians com-
ing to this country are out of the old Church ;
they are without religion, yet are in a way grop-
ing after one. As a consequence the Italian is
exceptionally open-minded. You can talk with
him. He is not suspicious — not apprehensive
lest you mislead him. He may have no respect
for any kind of religion, but he is not afraid that
you will lure him into forbidden paths. He is
beginning to think — a privilege which he has
been denied in the past. This open-mindedness
is readiness to accept the spirit and theories of

The New Immigration 153

American life ; for open-mindedness is ah Ameri-
can characteristic."

And open-mindedness toward the gospel is the
vestibule to conversion.

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER IV

Aim : To Consider the Desirability of the Italians
AS Immigrants, and the Opportunity for Chris-
tian Work among Them.

I. Contrast the Old and New Immigration.

1. What is the New Immigration?

2. What has become of the earlier immigrants?
Was their coming a benefit to the United
States?

3. Would your judgment concerning it have been
the same when they were coming?

4. What races have gained and what have lost in
their respective proportions ?

II. The Italians.

5. What are the leading types at present? What
are they likely to be in the future?

6. Mention opposing opinions as to the Italians?
Which seem to you nearer the truth?

7. What diflferences are there between Italians
from different parts of Italy?

8. From what class come most of the Italians
now arriving? Of what sex? What age?
What skill?

9. How has Italian immigration grown in num-
bers? How has it been distributed?

10. What proportion go West and South? Are
efforts being made to attract them anywhere?

154 Aliens or Americans?

III. Are the Italians a Desirable Class of Immigrants?

11. How do they compare with the early Irish
immigrants? With other nationalities?

12. What is the record of Italians in this country;
as to work, citizenship, self-support, crime,
temperance, thrift, care for education, financial
ability?

13. Have many Italians taken to farming? Do
they succeed? What sort of farming?

14. What efforts are being made to direct and dis-
tribute the Italian immigrants?

IV. What is the Opportunity of the Christian Church
Among Themf

15. Do you know of any specific effort to uplift
them through Christian influences?

16. Does this chapter make you feel that the
churches can do more for them ? How ?

References for Advanced Study. — Chapter IV

I. Further Study of Contrasts Between Different
Types of Italians.

Lord, et al ; The Italian in America, I, III, V.
Brandenburg : Imported Americans, IV, VI, XII.
Holt: Undistinguished Americans, III.

II. Illiteracy Among the Northern and Southern
Italians.

(i) Its bearing on their desirability as immigrants.
Brandenburg: Imported Americans, IV, XII,
XX.

Hall: Immigration, 54-58, 80-83.

The New Immigration

155

(2) Its relation to the probable efifect of a reading
test for admission.

Lord, et al : The Italian in America, VIII, XI.
Hall : Immigration, 262-280.

(3) Its bearing on their accessibility to the gospel.
McLanahan : Our People of Foreign Speech,
69-74.

Wood : Americans in Process, IX.

III. Location of Italians After Their Arrival and
Length of Their Stay.

Brandenburg: Imported Americans, II, XIX,
XXII.

Lord, et al : The Italian in America, VI, VII, IX.

IV. The Italians in New York City and State.
Benefits and dangers arising from their presence,
and efforts made to help them.

Riis : How the Other Half Lives, V, XXIV.
University Settlement Studies, Vol. i. Numbers
3 and 4, issue January, 1906.

Reports of the Society for Italian Immigrants, 17
Pearl Street, New York City.

Yesterday the Slav was a pauper immi-
grant; to-day he is what the English,
Welsh, Irish, and German miner was a
quarter of a century ago — on the way to
becoming an American citizen. What
sort of a citizen he will be will depend
upon the influences brought to bear upon
him. — F. J. Warne.

THE EASTERN INVASION

157

My people do not live in America. They live under-
neath America. America goes on over their heads. —
Paul Tytnkevich, a Ruthenian Priest.

"My people do not love America. Why should they,
from what they see of it ?" This is the profoundly sug-
gestive question of a Ruthenian Greek-Catholic priest,
of Yonkers, N. Y., who says his people do not come in
contact with the better classes of Americans, but do
come in contact with everyone who hopes to exploit
them.

The subject of immigration is the most far-reaching
in importance of all those with which this government
has to deal. The history of the world offers no pre-
cedent for our guidance, since no such peaceful invasion
of alien peoples has ever before occurred. It must have
great and largely unforeseen effects upon our form of
civilization, our social and political institutions, and,
above all, upon the physical, mental, and moral charac-
teristics of our people. Can such a subject be consid-
ered too seriously or too minutely? I cannot think it
possible. The danger lies in the opposite direction. —
F. P. Sargent.

It must not be forgotten that the Slav immigrants,
and especially their descendants, are impressionable and
adaptable; that forces are at work which have already
done much for them, and will do more. The results
of the public school are sure though slow. The full-
grown individual must be brought under the influence
of a yet more powerful agency, one which makes also
for civilization and for Americanism in the best sense.
— F. J. Warne.

158

THE EASTERN INVASION
EAST known, least liked, and least assimila- Mistaken

' ble of all the alien races migrating to
America are the Slavs. That expresses the gen-
eral opinion, based on ignorance and dislike. To
the common view they seem to combine all the
undesirable elements — low living, low intelli-
gence, low morality, low capacity, low everything,
including wages — this explaining in large meas-
ure their presence. The very name Slav excites
prejudice. If an exclusion act of any kind were
to be passed it would probably be easier to aim it
at the Slavs than any other class of immigrants.
We are now to submit this common opinion to
the test of investigation, and see whether it is
warranted in fact. Nowhere is discrimination
based on knowledge more necessary than in deal-
ing with this Slavic race division. First let us
learn who the Slavs are. The following table
shows this, and also how many of them entered
our ports in 1905 :

Poles 102,437 Servians, Bulgarians, and

Slovaks

Croatiana and Slovenians
Lithuanians

52,368
35,104
18,604

Montenegrins

Dalmatians, Bosnians, and
Herzegovinians

5,823

2.639

159

i6o

Aliens or Americans?

Ruthenians.
Rounumians.
Magyars'...

14,473
7,818
46,030

Bohemians and Moravians 11,757

Russians proper 3.746

Russian Jews' 92,388

The Slavs proper number about 125,000,000,
or more than one twelfth of the total population
of the world. They have been concentrated, until
the recent migration began, in the eastern and
larger part of Europe. They make up the bulk
of Russia, the great Slav power (numbering
about 70,000,000), and of the Balkan States, and
form nearly half of the population of Austria-
Hungary. The various Slavic languages and
dialects are closely related but differ as do Ger-
man and Swedish, so that the different races can-
not understand each other.2

The Slav immigration is of comparatively re-
cent date. Before 1880 it was unnoticeable. A
small number of Bohemians and Poles had come,
settling in the larger cities. But suddenly the
thousands began to pour in. Demand for cheap
labor in the coal fields of Pennsylvania drew this
class, and presently the American, Canadian,
English, Welsh, Irish, Scotch, and German mine-
workers found themselves being supplanted by
the men from Austria-Hungary and Russia-
men who were mostly single and alone, who

'While the Magyars (or Hungarians) are not Slavs, they have lived
in close contact with them, and for convenience may be classed
in the Slavic division; and the same thing is true of the Roujnanian
and Russian Jews. All these peoples come from Russia, Austria-
Hungary, or the Balkan States, and represent similar customs
and ideas, although they differ materially in character, as we shall
see.

'Samuel McLanahan, Our People of Foreign Speech. 34 fi.

The Eastern Invasion

COUNTRIES FROM WHICH THE SLAVS COME

i62 Aliens or Americans?

could live on little, eat any sort of food, wear
any kind of clothes, and sleep in a hut or store-
house, fourteen in a room. Of course the home
of the English-speaking miner, with its carpet
on the best room, its pictures and comforts, had
to go, as did the miner and his wife and children,
also the school and the church — for how could
these stay when the Slav, homeless and family-
less, could bunk in with a crowd anywhere, or
build himself a hillside hut out of driftwood, and
subsist on from four to ten dollars a month. The
one conspicuous thing about the Slav was his
ability to save money. Dr. \\'ame gives a graphic
and pathetic picture of the struggle caused by
the introduction of the Slavs into Pennsylvania,
and his investigations may profitably be studied.^
The results in Pennsylvania thus far are the
reverse of satisfacton.-. The cheap labor has
become dear in more senses than one. Where in
1880 the English-speaking foreign-born com-
posed nearly ninety-four per cent, of the mine
workers, in 1900 they were less than fifty-two
per cent., and to-day are much less still. The
Slavs dominate in the mines. Strikes are not less
frequent, but more difficult to control, and the
necessity of frequent state control by militia, the
riots and bloodshed, mark the failure to Ameri-
canize this growing class of aliens. A striking
illustration of non-assimilation and the attendant

'F. J. Warne, The Slav Invasion, chap. VI.

The Eastern Invasion 163

perils may be found in Pennsylvania. Fortu-
nately all the Slavs do not go to the mines, and
those who follow agriculture or trades afford a
pleasanter study. The census of 1900 gave a
million and a quarter of foreign-born Slavs and
the number has been largely increased. In 1903
221,000 came, not counting the 67,000 Russian
and Roumanian Jews. Since these peoples are
all prolific, with an oversupply at home, there is
every prospect that immigration will increase,
unless some check is put upon it. The Slavs will
have to be reckoned with, most assuredly, as an
element in our civilization.

SLAT DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

The maps here given, by the courtesy of
Charities, show the sections from which the Slavs
come and how they disperse in this country.

164 Aliens or Americans?

Chiefly
Unskilled and
Illiterate

A Hopeful
View

An analysis of the official statistics shows
that, with the exception of the Bohe-
mians, these newest immigrants are mainly
unskilled, illiterate peasants from country dis-
tricts, and with little money in their pockets when
they land. Of the Bohemians and Moravians
forty-four per cent are skilled laborers, and only
1.50 per cent, over fourteen are unable to read
and write ; but of the Poles eighty-five per cent,
are unskilled, and thirty per cent, can neither read
nor write; and this represents the average. We
are getting in an illiterate mass, therefore, and
the amount of money they bring per capita aver-
ages about $10. But on this point a writer says,
speaking from a wide observation

"This does not necessarily mean that they are
undesirable immigrants. The illiterate, unskilled
immigrant may be, in fact, more desirable than
the better educated skilled laborer, or the still
better educated professional or business man.
There may be a great demand here for unskilled
labor. Again, the moral qualities of the untaught
but industrious, simple-minded, unspoiled coun-
tryman may be far more wholesome for the
communities to which he comes than those of the
educated, town-bred, unsuccessful business or
professional man, the misfit skilled laborer, or the
actual loafer and sharper of tlie cities, who comes
over here when home gets too hot for him. As to

'Miss Kate H. Claghom, in Charities, for Decemtier, 1904.

The Eastern Invasion 165

illiteracy, moreover, the peasant is improving.
The great mass of this unskilled labor pushes
directly through the great gateway of New York,
.where unfortunately so many other races stop.
They go to the eastern, middle, and northern
states, mainly into our coal and iron mines, and
our steel mills, but also to the farming regions,
where they work patiently and thriftily, first as
farm laborers, then as owners of abandoned
farming lands or cut-over timber lands, reclaim-
ing and making them fertile to the great advan-
tage of the markets they supply."

Let us now look at this conglomerate immi-
gration a little more in detail, and no longer class
these peoples indiscriminately as "barbarian
Huns."

7. The Bohemians

We may well begin with the Bohemians, who
are among the most skilled, least illiterate, and,
to Protestants, most interesting of the Slavs. In
studying any group of "strangers within our
gates," it is necessary to know its preemigra-
tion history. These people, who call themselves
Czechs, are a principal branch of the Slav family
and one of the large constituents of the Austria-
Hungarian empire, numbering 6,318,697 in 1901.
At home they are chiefly agriculturists. In 1900
there were in this country 325,400 persons of
Bohemian parentage, of whom 156,991 were born

The Czechs
and their
History

l66 Aliens or Americans?

Stormy

National

Struggle

John Huss and
Jarome of
Pra^e

in Bohemia. Since 1900 above 50.000 more have
come. Three fourths of them all are in the north
central states of the Mississippi \'alley. with
Chicago as their great center. Cleveland has
about 15.000. New York about the same number;
while in agriculture there are in round numbers
16.000 in Nebraska. 14.000 in Wisconsin, 11,000
in Iowa, and 9,000 in Texas.

As to their history in the old world, the
Bohemians have had such a stormy national
struggle, and the bitterness of it has so entered
into their lives, that it is impossible rightly to
judge them apart from it. It has some instructive
lessons for us. These are the conditions, as Mr.
Nan Mashek, himself a Bohemian, states them

"For two hundred and fifty years they have
been oppressed by a pitilessly despotic rule. In
the day of their independence, before 1620. they
were Protestants, and the most glorious and
memorable events of their history are connected
with their struggle for the faith. The histon.-
of their Qiurch is the histon*- of their nation, for
on the one hand was Protestantism and independ-
ence, on the other, Catholicism and political sub-
jection. For two centuries Bohemia was a bloody
battleground of Protestant reform. Under the
spiritual and military leadership of such men as
Jerome of Prague. John Huss, and Ziska, the
Bohemians fought their good fight and lost.

^Charities, for December, 1904.

The Eastern Invasion 167

After the battle of White Mountains, in 1620,
national independence was completely lost, and
Catholicism was forcibly imposed upon the coun-
try. All Protestant Bibles, books, and songs
were burned, thus depriving the nation of a large
and rich literature. Those who still clung to
their faith publicly were banished, their property
becoming forfeited to the state. After 150 years,
when Emperor Joseph II. of Austria gave back
to the Protestants some measure of their former
freedom, many of the churches were reestab-
lished ; but Protestantism had lost much of its
strength. The political revolution of 1848 led to
new subjugation, and emigration was the result.
Large numbers left the country in quest of free-
dom, and some of these found their way to
America."

The first Bohemian settlers were of the most
intelligent and more prosperous classes. They ^^e we
went West, chiefly to Wisconsin, where their
farms are among the finest in the state. In
Kewaunee County they constitute over one third
of the population, or 6,000 out of 17,000. They
have developed into an excellent type of Ameri-
can citizenship, have looked well after the educa-
tion of their children, many of whom have gone
to college, and are in every way progressive.
Read thoughtfully what Mr. Mashek says:

"In the country the assimilation of Bohemians
is not a problem which offers difficulties. The

l68 Aliens or Americans?

Easy Assimi- pubHc school is everywhere so potent an Ameri-

lation Through rr^i . ,

Religion canizcr that it alone is adequate, ihere is, how-
ever, one other influence which if brought to
bear, especially in the large communities, would
be helpful. / refer to the Protestant faith. For
the most part Bohemians conversant with their
history as a people are naturally hostile to the
Catholic Qiurch, and when the restraints which
held them in their own country are removed by
emigration, many of the more enlightened quietly
drop their allegiance, and, through lack of desire
or opportunity, fail to ally themselves wnth any
other. So strong is this non-religious tendency
among the Bohemians — especially in the cities —
that it has resulted in active unbelief, and hos-
tility to Church influence. This spiritiial isolation,
with its resultant social separation, is doing great
harm in retarding assimilation. Aside from this
matter of religion, the Bohemian falls into Amer-
ican customs with surprising readiness."
Piotestant Thus a member of this race points out to
Opportunity pj-Qj-gg^-^nts their opportunity. Here is a people
with inherited Protestant tendencies. They have
been driven in Bohemia by an enforced Roman
Catholicism into antagonism to the Church as
they know it.

Freethinkers' In Chicago, where over 100,000 of them
Society rnake of that city the third largest Bohemian
center in the world, they have a strongly organ-
ized Freethinkers' Society, with three hundred

The Eastern Invasion 169

branches, which issues an atheistic catechism, and
has it taught in its numerous Sunday-schools,
as they are called. But there are thousands who
do not belong to this cult, and who are open to
the gospel. The same is true of the Bohemians
in New York, Cleveland, and elsewhere who have
not advanced to the Chicago infidel standpoint.
Their character has not been well understood.
They possess excellent qualities for the making
of good Americans. Christianity in pure and
true form is all they need.

The Bohemians are a home people, social, Home-iov-
and fond of organizations of every kind, cai Peopu
Music is their passion, and their clubs, mutual
benefit societies, and loan associations, success-
fully run, show large capacity for management.
They have forty-two papers, seven of them reli-
gious, two Protestant. Their freethinking is not
all of it by any means of the dogmatic sort which
has its catechism of atheism. There is another
class, represented by an old woman with a broad
brow over which the silvery hair is smoothly
parted, who says to the missionary, "1 have my
God in my heart, I shall deal with him. I do not
want any priest to step between us." That is the
class which the gospel can reach and ought to
reach speedily.

About seventy-five per cent, of the Bohemians where
live in the northwest. In Cleveland they
have entered into various industries. In New

I/O Aliens or Americans?

York they are largely employed in cigar-making,
at which the women and girls work under condi-
tions not calculated to inspire them with regard
for God or man. The home life cannot be what
it should when the mothers are compelled to work
in the factories, besides having all the home cares
and work. The testimony of the tenement inspect-
ors is that the Bohemians are perhaps the clean-
est of the poor people in the city, and are strug-
gling heroically against the pitiful conditions of
the tenement-houses in which they are compelled
to exist.

//. The Poles

A Largs The Polcs form one of the oldest and largest
Element elements of the Slav immigration. In 1900 the
census gave 668,536 persons whose parents were
born in Poland, and of these 383,510 were them-
selves born there. Nearly a quarter of a million
of the latter came to this countrj- between 1890
and 1900, and in the five years following, 1900-5,
about 350,000 more arrived. A third of a million
Poles now in America do not understand English.
The Polish strength is indicated by the Polish
National Alliance, with 50,000 members, and by
a list of fifty newspapers published in the Polish
tongue, four of them dailies, printed in Chicago,
Buffalo, and Milwaukee, the largest centers.
Religious "The higher classes of Poland were touched by
Tolerance the pre-Reformation movement of Huss at Prague,

172

Aliens or Americans?

where they were generally educated. Reforma-
tion ideas did not gain as great currency as in
Bohemia, but both Calvin and Luther were inter-
ested in their progress in Poland. A Jesuit
authority complained that two thousand Roman-
ist churches had become Protestant. A Union
Synod was formed and consensus of doctrine
adopted. Poland is described as the most tolerant
country of Europe in the sixteenth century. It
became an asylum for the persecuted Protestants
of other lands, notably the Bohemian brethren.
Later on, under the influence of Protestantism,
literature and education were stimulated. But
under succeeding Swedish and Saxon dynasties,
and through Jesuit instrumentality, religious lib-
erty and national independence were lost, and
Poland disappeared from the map of Europe.
As a race the Poles boast such names as Coper-
nicus the astronomer, Kosciusko the patriot war-
rior, and Chopin the composer."^
Distribution The distribution in America in 1904 was as
follows: Illinois, 123,887, of whom 107,669 were
in the vicinity of the Chicago stockyards ; Penn-
sylvania, 118,203, mainly in the anthracite coal
regions and about Pittsburg, with 11,000 in Phil-
adelphia; New York, 115,046, 50,000 of them in
New York City and 35,000 in Buffalo ; Wisconsin,
70,000, 36,000 in Milwaukee; Michigan, 59,075,
26,869 in Detroit; Ohio, 31,136, 15,000 in Qeve-

'Samuel McLanahan, Our People of Foreign Speech, 45.

The Eastern Invasion 173

land and 9,000 in Toledo; in Massachusetts,
Minnesota, and New Jersey, between 20,000 and
30,000 each ; in Connecticut and Indiana, over
10,000 each ; and in smaller numbers widely dis-
tributed. Their preference for the larger cities is
shown by these figures. Recent immigrants are
going more into the New England States.
Already there is a second generation of them in
the cities and the farming country of the Middle
West, and they have their own teachers and doc-
tors. In New England they are spreading in the
factory towns, and Chicopee, Massachusetts, has
six thousand of them; while in the tobacco belt
of Connecticut they furnish a majority of the
farm hands. Ten years ago Hartford had only
three or four hundred Polish families ; to-day
there is a parish of a thousand people, and they
liave built a Catholic church and given $20,000
toward a school.

Like most of the Slavs, the Poles who come independent in

1 , 1 r 1 Spirit; Open to

here are commonly poor, and of the peasant the Gospel
class ; about one third of them are illiterate. They
are clannish, and clash with the Lithuanians and
other races. Lovers of liberty, they clash also
with the Catholic authorities, going so far even
as organized rebellion to obtain control of their
church properties and freedom in the choice of
priests. They have a superstitious dread of
Protestantism, which has been misrepresented to
them as extremely difficult. "Polish priests about

174 Aliens or Americans?

Pittsburg are said to boast of the number of
Bibles, distributed by Protestants, which they
gather from the people and burn." If once
Protestantism gets a grip upon them, rapid
defection from ecclesiastical tyranny will follow.
Dr. H. K. Carroll figures that the Polish Cath-
olics as distinct from Roman Catholics, have
forty-three churches and 42,859 communicants,
with thirty-three priests — this representing the
extent of revolt against the Romish Church. It
must be granted that comparatively little has been
done to reach this people, and it is not strange
that as yet the number of Protestant Poles is
small. It takes a larger and more imposing move-
ment to make a definite impression upon those
accustomed to the size and strength of the
Catholic organizations.

///. The Slovaks
A Farming fhc Slovaks of northcm Hungary number
^'"^^^ about two millions, and are closely akin to the
Bohemians and Moravians. According to Mr.
Rovinanek, editor of the Pittsburg Slovak Daily,
they constitute the trunk of the great Slavonic
national tree, from which have branched so many
of the Slav people, at the head of whom now
stands the powerful Russian empire. From pre-
historic time they were celebrated as a peaceful,
industrious people, fond of agricultural and pas-
toral life. The immigration has been from the

The Eastern Invasion 175

agricultural class, and at first settlement was
made in the mining regions of Pennsylvania.
Farming had its inherited attractions, however,
and there are hundreds of Slovak farmers in
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Ohio; while in
Minnesota, Arkansas, Virginia, and Wisconsin
there are colonies of them, where for many miles
on every side the land is entirely in their pos-
session. Kossuth was a Slovak, to their lasting
pride. Over 100,000 of them have come to
America since 1900, one fourth of them illiter-
ates. They had little opportunity to be otherwise
at home, but since coming here their advance-
ment educationally has been marked.

"This is due," says Mr. Rovinanek, "largely to Religious in
the intensely religious spirit which prevails among
the Slavic peoples, and to the fact that here they
have been able to combine schools with their
churches." The total number now in the country
is estimated at 250,000, of whom 150,000 are
in Pennsylvania. Two thirds of the immigrants
are men.

They live usually in very poor and crowded industrial
quarters, one family having sometimes from
fifteen to twenty boarders, and under conditions
far from cleanly or sanitary. There are nearly
as many newspapers in the United States in the
Slovak language as in Hungary, with a much
larger total circulation. This press has stimu-
lated industrial and business enterprises in the

176 Aliens or Americans?

Slovak communities. There are numerous small
mercantile establishments. In Philadelphia, New
York, and Chicago, wire and tinware factories
established with Slovak capital and conducted
with Slovak labor are securing the cream of this
trade in the country. For centuries the tinware
of Europe was made largely by the Slovaks.
They have a high position also for electrical
designs and other skilled work.
organization« They are a great people for organization. The
National Slavonic Society was organized in
Pittsburg in 1890, with 250 members; it now has
20,000 active members and 512 lodges. It is
primarily a beneficial organization, but has done
a valuable work in educating its members and
inducing them to become American citizens. The
society requires its members, after a reasonable
time, to obtain naturalization papers and thus
promotes Americanization. It has paid out nearly
a million dollars in death benefits, and much more
in sick benefits ; has aided students in this coun-
try and Hungary, and national literary and patri-
otic workers as well, besides coming to the rescue
of Slavs in Hungary persecuted by the govern-
ment. Many other societies have sprung from
this parent organization, including a Presby-
terian Slavistic Union, and hundreds of literary,
benevolent, and political clubs, so that there are
between 100,000 and 125,000 organized Slovaks
in the United States.

The Eastern Invasion 177

IV. The Magyars or Hungarians

The Magyars belong properly in a division by conquerors of
themselves. These people, who are Hungarians
proper, do not class strictly with the Germans
and Slavs of Hungary. They drove out their
Slavic predecessors or subjugated them in the
ninth century, and became masters of the Danu-
bian plains. Roman Catholicism became the state
religion about the year 1000, but during the
Reformation period the Lutheran and Reformed
types of Protestantism gained a large following
and were granted liberty. This was afterward
denied them, and bloody struggles followed, as in
Bohemia. Protestants were again placed on equal
footing with Roman Catholics in 1791. The
Magyars number over eight millions and com-
prise a little more than one half the population
of Hungary.

There are at present between 250,000 and Good and Bad
300,000 Hungarians in America. They have a ^^uai'ties
fair degree of education, are generally reputed
to be honest, and as compared with the Slavs
(with whom they are commonly confused) are
more intelligent and less industrious, "more agile
■in limb and temper." Many are addicted to
drink and quarreling. It is noticeable that the
Protestants are morally and intellectually
superior to the Catholics. The bulk of the Mag-
yars (eighty-six per cent.) are in the Pennsyl-

178

Aliens or Americans?

vania mining regions, in New York, New Jer-
sey, and Ohio. At home chiefly agriculturists,
here they work mostly in mines, mills, and fac-
tories. The Roman Catholic Hungarians are said
to lapse easily from the Church, going into indif-
ferentism and nothingism. This gives opening
for Protestant mission work.
The City A Writer who has made special investigations.
Colony jn the line of social settlement studies,^ says that
eighty per cent, of the Magyars arriving in New
York go at once to the farms and mines. The
New York colony numbers 50,000 to 60,000. in-
cluding the Hungarian Jews, who are scarcely
distinguishable from the Gentiles. The life of
their quarter is one continuous whirl of excite-
ment. Pleasure seems the chief end. The cafe
is their club room. Intensely social, fond of con-
viviality and gaiety, bright, polished, graceful,
the Magyar soon learns English, and adapts him-
self to his new surroundings. The newspaper,
literary society, and charitable organization are
the only institutions he cares to support. Pride,
independence, fertility of resource, lack of per-
severance, love of ease rather than of a strenuous
life — these are his qualities. Tailoring is the
chief occupation in New York, though Hunga-
rians are also furriers, workers in hotels and res-
taurants and various kinds of light factories, and
some are shopkeepers and merchants. Those

'Louis H. Pick, in Charitits, for December, 1904.

The Eastern Invasion 179

who speak from close knowledge call them excel-
lent "citizen-material." In one of these typical
East Side Hungarian cafes, as a guest of the
Hungarian Republican Club, President Roose-
velt spent the evening and made a noteworthy
address on February 14, 1905. Among other
things, he told them that "Americanism is not
a matter of birthplace or race, but of the spirit
that is in the man."

V. The Lithuanians and Letts
The Lithuanians in Russia number about two **ine and miii
millions. They began to come in 1868, driven
out by famine at home, and the first comers went
to the northern Pennsylvania mines. At present
there are about 200.000 in America ; 50,000 of
them in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania,
25,000 in the soft coal mines of western Penn-
sylvania and West Virginia ; 10,000 in Philadel-
phia and Baltimore; 15,000 in New York; 25,-
000 in New England ; mainly in Boston, Worces-
ter, Brockton, Hartford, and Bridgeport; 10,-
000 in Ohio and Michigan ; 50,000 in Illinois and
Wisconsin ; while several thousand are scattered
over the western states. Though nearly all
raised on farms, they do not take to farming here,
nor do they like open air work, preferring the
mines, factories, foundries, and closed shops. In
the cities many of them are tailors, and many are
found in packing-houses, steel plants, hat and

l8o Aliens or Americans?

shoe factories, and mills. Their chief curse is
intemperance, and they are not of strong charac-
ter, having little of the quality of leadership.
Generally they are devout Roman Catholics ;
when not they are apt to become freethinkers,
and a freethinkers' alliance has been formed
among them. They are described as commonly
peaceable, well dressed, and good-natured. Their
children are mostly in public schools. Little
Protestant work has been done among them.
Less Favor- The Lettish people, like the Lithuanians, their
able Repute j^gjgj^i^Qj-s and kinsmen, are among the oldest
races of Europe. They are clearly distinguished
from the southern Slavs, being tall and fair, like
the Swede, in complexion. The Letts at home
number about a million and a half. Since 1900
nearly 35,000 of them have come to America,
settling mostly in the anthracite coal regions.
They are also found in New York, Massachu-
setts, Illinois, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
About one half are illiterate, and in the coal fields
both Lithuanians and Letts have a poor reputa-
tion. In Boston, however, there is an encourag-
ing mission work among the Lettish people.

VI. The Ruthenians

•Prom a Poor ^hc Ruthcnians, or Ukrainians, called also the
Little Russians, at home occupy the southern
part of Russia, eastern and southwestern Galicia,
and part of Bukovina in Austria-Hungar>'.

The Eastern Invasion i8i

Their number in Europe is computed at over
30,000,000. They are darker and smaller than
the typical Slav. Roman Catholic in religion,
they are generally poor, illiterate, backward in
civilization, and oppressed. Immigration began
perhaps thirty years ago, but not in appreciable
numbers until recent years. In the four years
ending in June, 1903, there were 26,496 arrivals,
two thirds men, nearly all unskilled laborers, and
one half unable to read or write. The number in
1905 was 14,473. Pennsylvania is their common
destination. Estimates as to their present num-
bers in the country vary from 160,000 to 350,000,
the latter figures given by Ivan Ardan, editor of
their paper, Svohoda, at Scranton. He says there
are 60,000 more in Canada, and as many in Brazil
and other South American republics, or about
half a million altogether in the new world.
Probably there are 90,000 of them in Pennsyl-
vania. They are said to be accessible to mission-
ary influences, but their ignorance and crowded
conditions of living make work difficult.

About eight tenths of the Ruthenians here are Mostly
laborers, chiefly in the mines ; and about one
tenth are farmers. The young women work in
shops and factories, but prefer domestic service,
and are efficient. The people are very saving,
and scarcely one but has from $50 to $200 at
least saved and put away in some hidden comer
or in a bank. They buy lots and build houses, or

Aliens or Americans?

Greek
Catholics

Hopeful
Features

take up farming. They have beneficial societies
for sickness, injury, and death, including wife
and mother as well as husband and father. Mr,
Ardan says Ruthenian men and women drink,
"farmers and Protestants being exceptions."
What a notable exception and testimony that is.

Superstitious, devout, attached to their churches,
the majority are Greek Catholics, with a few
Protestants from Russian Ukraine, where Prot-
estants are bitterly persecuted. There are io8
Ruthenian churches, composed of eighty Greek
Catholic, twenty-six Greek Orthodox (Russian
State Church), and two Protestant, besides sev-
eral Protestant missions.

The people are as a rule very eager to
learn both their native and the English lan-
guage. They have their adult schools for this
purpose. Their children go to the public schools.
There are four Ruthenian weeklies and one
monthly published in this country, and some
books. Education is prompted by reading circles,
lectures, and societies for self-improvement. The
race has a fine physique, with great physical
endurance. Individuality is more marked in it
than in many Slavonic races, and assimilation
is comparatively rapid. In this country they
rapidly wake up to a new life and promise to
make a worthy addition to citizenship. Such
missionary opportunities should move our Chris-
tian churches to active efforts.

The Eastern Invasion 183

VII. Other Nationalities

Croatians and
Dalmatians

Slovenians

We can only mention the remaining nationaU-
ties of the Slavic group. The Croatians and Dal-
matians, unable to make a living at home, are
fleeing from starvation and mismanagement, and
seeking work in America. Croatia is a kingdom
of Austria-Hungary. Dalmatia is the seacoast
province of Austria.

The Slovenians come from the provinces
northwest of Croatia. The three nationalities
have probably sent between 200,000 and
300,000 persons to America. Dalmatians are
oyster fishermen at New Orleans, make staves in
Mississippi, are wine dealers in San Francisco,
and vine growers and miners in other parts of
California. The Slovenians are chiefly found in
the Pennsylvania mines and other mining regions.
The Croatians are mostly in the same regions and
work, although in New York there are about
15,000 of them engaged as longshoremen and
mechanics, and a small number are farmers out
West. They are Roman Catholic, largely illiter-
ate and unskilled. The Catholics do little for
them, and the Protestant denominations have
undertaken no specific work in their behalf.

The Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Bulgarians, * Needy
Servians, and Montenegrins are just beginning
to come in appreciable numbers. They represent
much the same home conditions as the nationali-

Group

184 Aliens or Americans?

ties mentioned more in detail. Catholicism,
Greek or Roman, has cast them pretty much in
the same mold. Ignorant, semi-civilized many
of them, they have everything to get and learn in
their new home, and afiford still larger oppor-
tunity for Protestant Christianity in its mighty
work of making and keeping America the land
of righteousness and progress.
A Hopeful An interesting series of articles appeared in
1906 in a magazine devoted to social betterment,^
the writer having spent a year in studying condi-
tions in the Slav districts of Austria-Hungary.
Living among the people, she has become pro-
foundly interested in them, and takes a most
hopeful view of their possibilities in America.
She says the life from which the peasants mostly
come to us is the old peasant life, but a little
way removed from feudalism and serfdom. Each
little village is a tiny world in itself, with its
own traditions and ways, its own dress, perhaps
even its own dialect. The amazing gift of the
Slav for color and music permeates the whole
home life with poetry. The Slav immigrants
have the virtues and faults of their primitive
world. They come to America to make money.
The majority come with intent to earn money to
take back home, rather than with expectation to
settle here permanently. Unenterprising, unlet-
tered, they are at the same time hardy, thrifty

^Miss Emily Balch, "The Slavs at Home,"in Charities and Com-
mons.

The Eastern Invasion 185

and shrewd, honest and pious. They are un-
doubtedly highly endowed with gifts of imagina-
tion and artistic expression for which in their
American conditions they find little or no outlet.

And here again is the point we are constantly Necessity of

, . . , tuTi 1 • • Christian

havmg mipressed upon us. What the immigrant Environment
shall become, for good or ill, depends chiefly
upon what conditions are made for him, and
whether he is given a chance to express his best
self in this country. Grinding monopoly, harsh
treatment, prejudice that drives into clannishness
and race hatred — these will make of the Slavs a
peril. A genuinely Christian environment and
treatment will find them receptive and ready for
Americanization through evangelization.

VIII. The Russian Jews

In some respects the most interesting immi- An interesting
grants from the Slav countries are the Jews from
Russia and Roumania. The German Jew and
the Russian Jew must not be confounded ; they
are as distinct as any two races in the entire
immigrant group. The German Jew came to
America to make more money, and is making it.
The Russian Jew, who comes from persecution,
is rigidly orthodox, and regards the commercial
German class as apostate. He forms a pictur-
esque, vigorous, stii generis member of the alien
procession.

i86 Aliens or Americans?

Coming Sincc the year 1881 not less than 750,000
Rapidly j^^-gj^ immigrants have arrived at the port of
New York alone. On Manhattan Island more
than every fourth person you meet is a Jew. The
Jews admitted at Ellis Island during the past five
years outnumbered all the communicants in the
Protestant churches in Greater New York,
Where they Qf the io6,ooo Jcws admitted in 1904, a large
proportion of whom settled in New York, 77,000
came from the Russian Empire, 20,000 from
Austria-Hungary, and 6,000 from Roumania.
Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe are all
one people.

Occupation They show a larger proportion with skilled,
professional and commercial training and
experience than do any of the other newer immi-
grants except the Finns. Nearly twenty per
cent, of the Hebrew immigrants are tailors, nearly
five per cent, mechanics, merchants, or clerks,
and almost one per cent, follow the professions.
Of the remainder a very considerable proportion,
though not a majority, are skilled workers such
as bakers, tobacco workers, carpenters, painters,
and butchers. The garment trades, to which they
find themselves adapted, and for which New
York is the world center, engages perhaps 100,-
000 of them, men, women, and children, many
of them in the sweat-shops, which they created.
For the first time in their history, the Jews
have built up a great industrial class, this being

The Eastern Invasion

187

an American development. According to a Jew-
ish authority/ the "unspeakable evils of the tene-
ments and sweat-shops" of the ghetto are under-
mining their physical and moral health.

The newly arrived Russian Jew is kept in the Location
ghetto of the larger cities — New York, Chicago,
Philadelphia, and Boston — not only by his pov-
erty and ignorance but by his orthodoxy. In this
district the rules of his religion can more cer-
tainly be followed. Here can be found the lawful
food, here the orthodox places of worship, here
neighbors and friends can be visited within "a
sabbath day's journey." The young people,
however, rapidly shake off such trammels, and in
the endeavor to be like Americans urge their
parents to move away from this "foreign" dis-
trict. When they succeed, the Americanizing
process may be considered well under way. Con-
cerning the religious change that comes over the
young Jew after he reaches this country, a writer
says

"Many a young man, who was firm in his reli- ^^con^e

. . . 1 . . .,, , . Eatramged

gious convictions in his native village, having from Judaism
heard of the religious laxity prevalent in America,
had fully made up his mind not to be misled by
the temptation and allurements of the free coun-
try, but he succumbed in his struggle and re-
nounced his Judaism when first submitting his
chin to the barber's razor, at the entreaties and

'Lee Frankel. in The Russian Jew in the United States, 63.
"Julius H. Greenstone, in The Russian Jew in tlie United Stales, is8.

l88 Aliens or Americans?

persuasions of his Americanized friends and rela-
tives. Religion then appeared to him not only
distinct from life, but antagonistic to it, and since
it was life, a free, full, undisturbed life he sought
in coming here, he felt compelled to divorce him-
self from all the religious ties that had hitherto
encompassed him. Thus it is that the immigrant
Jewish youth, even those faithful and loyal to the
institutions of old and who desired to conduct
their lives in accordance with the precepts of
their religion, became estranged from Judaism
and suffered themselves to be swept along by the
tide. Thus the immigrant Jew in America has
frequently become callous and indifferent, and
sometimes cynical and antagonistic to everything
pertaining to Judaism." While they are thus
lost to Judaism they are not won to Christian-
ity, but they ought to be. The older people
become reconciled with difficulty to this irreli-
gious attitude and "the old Jewess still curses
Columbus for his great transgression in discover-
ing America, where her children have lost their
religion."

Ambitious for The Russiau Jews usually come in great pov-
EdtTcation"'* crty, but do not stay poor very long. In New
York's East Side many tenements in Jewish quar-
ters are owned by persons who formerly lived in
crowded corners of others like them ; and from
this population comes many a Broadway mer-
chant, and professional men in plenty. It is cer-

The Eastern Invasion 189

tain that the adult Hebrew immigrant has definite
aspirations toward social, economic, and educa-
tional advancement. The poorest among them
will make all possible sacrifices to keep his chil-
dren in school ; and one of the most striking
social phenomena in New York City is the way
in which the Jews have taken prossession of the
public schools, in the highest as well as lowest
grades. The city college is practically filled with
Jewish pupils. In the lower schools Jewish chil-
dren are the delight of their teachers for clever-
ness at their books, obedience, and general good
conduct ; and the vacation schools, night schools,
social settlements, libraries, bathing places, parks,
and playgrounds of the East Side are fairly
besieged with Jewish children. Jewish boys are
especially ambitious to enter professions or go
into business. For example, the head of one
of the largest institutions of the East Side tells
a story of a long interview with a class of boys in
which all spoke of the work they intended to do.
Law, medicine, journalism, and teaching came
first. There were even some who intended to
become engineers. A smaller number were going
into business, and not one intended to learn any
manual trade. Some were going in for rrrusic,
and occasionally one is found who intends to
make his living by art. But above all, the young
Jew is ambitious and intends to rise. This is true
in all cities.

igo Aliens or Americans?

Worthy
Qualities

Good Citizens,
but Poor
Americans

The strong good qualities of the Jews are
absence of the drink evil, love of home, desire to
preserve the purity of the family, and remarkable
eagerness for self -improvement. They easily
adapt themselves to the new environment and
assimilate the customs and language of the new
country. This leads to the danger of readily
falling in with the vices found in the tenement
districts — the children showing this in the large
numbers of them that appear in the Juvenile
Court. The remedy is removal, and this the Jew-
ish parents seek as soon as they are able.

With decent environment and a fair chance,
the Russian Jew promises to become a good citi-
zen, intellectually keen, commercially shrewd,
professionally bound to shine. But that he will
ever, except in rare instances, imbibe the real
American spirit or understand the American
ideals is a question. At the same time, the Jews
are believers in the principle of democracy, and
in case of an issue arising on the separation of
Church and State, would be found standing with
American Protestantism for the religious liberties
of the American people.

The Eastern Invasion 191

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER V

Aim : To Consider the Desirability of the Slavs as
Immigrants.

I. The Slavic People as a Whole.

1. What nationalities are generally included under
the term Slavs? Are they numerous in pop-
ulation? Are they strictly of one race?

2. What grounds are there to justify popular
prejudice against them? Or to show it to be
ill founded?

3. When did they begin to come in large num-
bers ?

4. Where have they largely settled, and with
what results?

II. Racial Divisions of the Slavic Immigrants.

5. What can you tell about the Bohemians, as to
their religious history, political sufferings, and
coming to America? What are their condi-
tions here? Their accessibility? Their loca-
tion ?

6. Tell about the Poles in the same way.

7. Tell about the Slovaks in the same way.

8. Tell about the Magyars in the same way.

9. Who and what are the Lithuanians?

10. Who and what are the Ruthenians?

III. Slavic Elements of Strength and American Out-
look.

11. Mention some encouraging features with refer-
ence to the above-named and other Slavs.

12. * If you had been born a Slav in Europe, would

you be likely to prefer America to Europe?
Protestantism to Roman Catholicism? The
country or the city?

192 Aliens or Americans?

IV. Social, Moral, and Religious Aspects of the Jew-
ish and Slavic Population.

13. How many Jews are there in New York City?

14. What keeps the new arrivals in the larger
cities?

15. Are they religious, quick to learn, temperate?

16. Mention some form of Christian work for
Slavs or Jews about which you know.

References for Advanced Study. — Chapter V

I. Further Study as to Race Origin and Inter-
relationship of the Slavs.
Warne: The Slav Invasion, III.
McLanahan: Our People of Foreign Speech, IV.
II. National Conditions in Europe which the Slavs
Seek to Escape.
Hall : Immigration, 60-65.

III. Social and Moral Effects Produced by the Slav
Invasion of the Anthracite Regions.

Warne : The Slav Invasion, IV, VII.

IV. Factors in Slavic History and Conditions Favoring
and Hindering the Access of the Gospel.
McLanahan : Our People of Foreign Speech, 34-58.
Charities and Commons, issues 1905-06.

V. Conditions Among Russian Jews.

Statements of Jewish authors as to conditions
among Russian Jews in their native lands and in
America.

Bernheimer: The Russian Jew in the United
States, I (B), IV (A), VI (A).

The city is the nerve center of our civ-
ilization. It is also the storm center.
The city has a peculiar attraction for the
immigrant. Here is heaped the social
dynamite; here the dangerous elements
are multiplied and concentered. — Josiah
Strong.

THE FOREIGN PERIL OF THE CITY

193

The city is the most difficult and perplexing problem
of modern times. — Francis Lieber.

We must save the city if we would save the nation.
Municipal government and city evangelization together
constitute the distinctive problem of the city, for this
generation at least. — Josiah Strong.

Talk of Dante's Hell, and all the horrors and cruelties
of the torture chamber of the lost ! The man who
walks with open eyes and bleeding heart through the
shambles of our civilization needs no such fantastic
images of the poet to teach him horror. — General Booth.

With the influx of a large foreign population into the
great cities, there have come also foreign customs and
institutions, laxity and license — those phases of evil
which are the most insidious foes of the purity and
strength of a people. The slums of our large cities are
but the stagnant pools of illiteracy, vice, pauperism,
and crime, annually fed by this floodtide of immigra-
tion.— R. M. Atchison.

You can kill a man with a tenement as easily as with
an ax. — Jacob Riis.

Our foreign colonies are to a large extent in the cities
of our own country. To live in one of these foreign
communities is actually to live on foreign soil. The
thoughts, feelings, and traditions which belong to the
mental life of the colony are often entirely alien to an
American. — Robert Hunter.

The vastness of the problem of the city slum, and the
impossibility, even with unlimited resources of men and
money, of permanently raising the standards of living
of many of our immigrants as long as they are crowded
together, and as long as the stream of newer immigrants
pours into these same slums, has naturally forced itself
upon the minds of thinking persons. — Robert D. Ward.

THE FOREIGN PERIL OF THE CITY

/. The Evils of Environment

S is the city, so will the nation be. The ten- Tendency
dencies all seem to be toward steady con- ^j^]^"'**''*

centration in great centers. The evils of conges- '
tion do not deter the thronging multitudes. The
attractions of the city are irresistible, even to
those who exist in the most wretched conditions.
The tenement districts baffle description, yet noth-
ing is more difficult than to get their miserable
occupants to leave their fetid and squalid sur-
roundings for the country. To the immigrants
the city is a magnet. Here they find colonies of
their own people, and prize companionship more
than comfort. "Folks is more company than__
stumps," said an old woman in the slums to
Dr. Schaufifler. In the great cities the immi-
grants are massed, and this constitutes a most
perplexing problem. If tens of thousands of
foreigners could somehow be gotten out of
New York, Boston, Chicago, and other cities,
and be distributed where they are needed and
could find work and homes, immigration would
cause far less anxiety. But when the immigrant

195

196 Aliens or Americans?

prefers New York or Chicago, what authority-
shall remove him to Louisiana or Oklahoma?
Perils Due to foreigner is in the city ; he will chiefly stay

Environment , . , ... , '

there ; and the question is what can be done to
improve his city environment; for the perils to
which we refer are primarily due not to the for-
eigner himself but to the evil and vice-breeding
conditions in which he has to exist. These imperil
him and make him a peril in turn. The over-
crowded tenements and slums, the infection of
long-entrenched corruption, the absence of light,
fresh air, and playgrounds for the children, the
unsanitary conditions and exorbitant rents, the
political heelers teaching civic corruption, the
saloons with their attendant temptations to vice
and crime, the fraudulent naturalization — these
work together upon the immigrant, for his undo-
ing and thus to the detriment of the nation.
When we permit such an environment to exist,
and practically force the immigrant into it be-
cause we do not want him for a next-door neigh-
bor, we can hardly condemn him for forming
foreign colonies which maintain foreign customs
and are impervious to American influences. It
has too long been the common practice to lay
ever\-thing to the foreigner. Would it not be
fairer and more Christian to distribute the blame,
and assume that part of it which belongs to us.
In the study of the facts contained in this chapter,
put yourself persistently in the place of the immi-

The Foreign Peril of the City 197

grant, suddenly introduced into the conditions
here pictured, and ask yourself what you would
probably be and become in like circumstances.

How the other half lives is not the only mys- a caii for
tery. How little the so-called upper-ten know
how the lower-ninety live. And how little you
and I, who are fortunate to count ourselves in
the next upper-twenty, perhaps, know how the
under-seventy exist and think and do. If only
the more fortunate thirty per cent, knew of the
exact conditions under which a large proportion
of men, women, and children carry on the pitiful
struggle for mere existence, there would be an
irresistible demand for betterment. Every Chris-
tian ought to know the wrongs of our civiliza-
tion, in order that he may help to right them.
This glimpse beneath the surface of the city
should stir us out of comfortable complacency
and give birth in us to the impulse that leads to
settlement and city mission work, and to civic
reform movements. The young men and women
of America must create a public sentiment that
will demolish the slunis, and erect in their places
model tenements; that will tear down the rook-
eries, root out the saloons and dens of vice, and
provide the children with playgrounds and
breathing space. And this work will be directly
in the line of Americanizing and evangelizing the
immigrants, for they are chiefly the occupants
and victims of the tenements and the slums.

ipS Aliens or Americans ?

Vanishing Ncw York is a city in America but is hardly

Americanism , . . . , ^

an American city. iSor is any other of our great
cities, except perhaps Philadelphia. Boston is an
Irish city, Qiicago is a German-Scandinavian-
Polish city, Saint Louis is a German city, and
New York is a Hebrew-German-Irish-Italian-
Bohemian-Hungarian city — a cosmopolitan race
conglomeration. Eighteen languages are spoken
in a single block. In Public School No. 29 no
less than twenty-six nationalities are represented.
This indicates the complicated problem.
A Jewish City Ngw York is the chief Jewish capital. Of the
760,000 Jews on Manhattan, about 450,000 are
Russian, and they overcrowd the East Side
ghetto. In that quarter the signs are in Hebrew,
the streets are markets, the shops are European,
the men, women, and children speak in Yiddish,
and all faces bear the foreign and Hebrew mark
plainly upen them.
An Italian Go ou a little further and you find that you
*^'*>' are in Little Italy, quite distinct from Jewry,
but not less foreign. Here the names on the signs
are Italian, and the atmosphere is redolent with
the fumes of Italy. The hurdy-g^rdy vies with
the push-cart, the streets are full of children and
women, and you are as a stranger in a strange
land. You would not be in a more distinctively
Italian section if you were by magic transplanted
to Naples or Genoa.

Nor is it simply the East Side in lower

The Foreign Peril of the City 199

New York that is so manifestly foreign. Go a Foreign city
where you will on Manhattan Island and
you will see few names on business signs
that do not betray their foreign derivation.
Two out of every three persons you meet will
be foreign. You will see the Italian gangs clean-
ing the streets, the Irish will control the motor
of your trolley-car and collect your fares, the
policeman will be Irish or German, the waiters
where you dine will be French or German, Italian
or English, the clerks in the vast majority of the
shopping places will be foreign, the people you
meet will constantly remind you of the rarity of
the native American stock. You are ready to
believe the statement that there are in New York
more persons of German descent than of native
descent, and more Germans than in any city of
Germany except Berlin. Here are nearly twice
as many Irish as in Dublin, about as many Jews
as in Warsaw, and more Italians than in Naples
or Venice. In government, in sentiment, in prac-
tice, as in population (thirty-seven per cent, for-
eign-bom and eighty per cent, of foreign birth or
parentage), the metropolis is predominantly for-
eign, and in elections the foreign vote, shrewdly
manipulated for the most part, controls. Nor is
this true of New York alone. In thirty-three of other
our largest cities the foreign population is larger
than the native ; in Milwaukee and Fall River the
foreign percentage rises as high as eighty-five

200

Aliens or Americans?

Failure in City
Government

"Where the
Newcomers
First Go

per cent. In all these cities the foreign colonies
are as distinct and practically as isolated socially
as though they were in Russia or Poland, Italy
or Hungary. Foreign in language, customs,
habits, and institutions, these colonies are sepa-
rated from each other, as well as from the Ameri-
can population, by race, customs, and religion.

To believe that this makes no particular differ-
ence so far as the development of our national
life is concerned is to shut one's eyes to obvious
facts. As such an impartial and intelligent
student of our institutions as Mr. James Bryce
has pointed out, the conspicuous failure of dem-
ocracy in America thus far is seen in the bad
government of our great cities. And it is in these
centers that the mass of the immigrants learn
their first and often last lessons of American life.

The strong tendency of immigrants is to settle
in or near the ports of entry. Where in the great
cities do these newcomers find a dwelling place?
What will their first lessons in American life be?
If we deal largely with New York, it is simply
because here are the typical conditions and here
the larger proportion of arrivals. Once admitted
at Ellis Island, the alien is free to go where he
will ; or rather, where he can, for his place of
residence is restricted, after all. If he is an
Italian, he will naturally and almost of necessity
go to one of the Little Italics ; if a Jew, to the
ghetto of the East Side ; if a Bohemian, to Little

The Foreign Peril of the City 201

Bohemia ; and so on. In other words, he will go,
naturally and almost inevitably, to the colonies
which tend to perpetuate race customs and preju-
dices, and to prevent assimilation. Worse yet,
these colonies are in the tenement and slum dis-
tricts, the last environment of all conceivable in
which this raw material of American citizenship
should be placed.

//. Tenement-House Life

To those who have not made personal investi- vice-Breeding
gation, the present conditions, in spite of laws
and efforts to ameliorate the worst evils, are well
nigh unbelievable. The cellar population, the
blind alley population, the swarming masses in
buildings that are little better than rat-traps, the /
herding of whole families in single rooms, in j
which the miserable beings sleep, eat, cook, and ^
make clothing for contractors, or cigars that
would never go into men's mouths if the men
saw where they were made — these things seem
almost impossible in a civilized and Christian
land. It is horrible to be obliged to think of the
human misery and hopelessness and grind to
which hundreds of thousands are subjected in the
city of New York day in and out, without rest
or change. It is no wonder that criminals and
degenerates come from these districts ; it is a
marvel, rather, that so few result, and that so
much of human kindness and goodness exists in

202

Aliens or Americans?

spite of crushing conditions. There is a bright
as well as dark side even to the most disgraceful
districts; but there is no denying that the dark
vastly predominates, and that the struggle for
righteousness is too hard for the average human
being. Nearly everything is against the peasant
immigrant thrust into the throng which has no
welcome for him, no decent room, and yet from
which he has little chance to get away. He is
commonly cleaner morally when he lands than
after six months of the life here. Why should
he not be? What has American Christianity
done to safeguard or help him?

The existence of the tenement-house evils, it
must be borne in mind, is chargeable primarily
to the owner and landlord, not to the foreign
occupant. The landlords are especially to blame
for the ill consequences. The immigrant cannot
dictate terms or conditions. He has to go where
he can. The prices charged for rent are exorbi-
tant, and should secure decency and healthful
quarters. No property is so remunerative. This
rent money is literally blood money in thousands
of instances, and yet every effort to improve
things is bitterly fought. Why should not social-
ism and anarchism grow in such environment?
Of course many of the immigrants are familiar
with poor surroundings and do not apparently
object to dirt and crowding. But that does not
make these conditions less oerilous to American

The Foreign Peril of the City

203

life. Self-respect has a hard struggle for sur-
vival in these sections, and if the immigrant does
not possess or loses that, he is of the undesirable
class. Mr. Robert Hunter makes the statement
that no other city in the world has so many dark :
and vi^indowless rooms, or so many persons I
crowded on the acre, or so many families deprived 1
of light and air as New York. He says there are )
360,000 dark rooms in Greater New York. And
these are almost entirely occupied by the foreign-
ers. But unsanitary conditions prevail also in all
the cities, large and small, and especially in the
mine and mill and factory towns, wherever large
masses of the poorest workers live.

Concerning possible legislation to correct these L*g«i Reme-
city evils of environment, Mr. Sargent says : PoM>t>i«
"So far as the overcrowding in city tenements
is concerned, municipal ordinances in our large
cities prescribing the amount of space which ra-
pacious landlords should, under penalties suf-
ficiently heavy to enforce obedience, be required
to give each tenant, would go far toward attain-
ing the object in view. Whether such a plan
could be brought into existence through the
efforts of our general government, or whether the
Congress could itself legislate directly, upon sani-
tary and moral grounds, against the notorious
practice of housing aliens with less regard for
health and comfort than is shown in placing brute
animals in pens, the Bureau is unprepared to say. \

204 Aliens or Americans?

It is, however, convinced that no feature of the
immigration question so insistently demands pub-
lic attention and effective action. The evil to be
removed is one that is steadily and rapidly on the
increase, and its removal will strike at the root
of fraudulent elections, poverty, disease, and
crime in our large cities, and on the other hand
largely supply that increasing demand for labor
to develop the natural resources of our country."^

Not to draw the picture all in the darker
shades, let us look at the best type of Italian tene-
ment life. We are not left to guesswork in the
matter. Settlement workers and students of
social questions are actually living in the tene-
ment and slum sections, so as to know by experi-
ence and not hearsay. One of these investiga-
tors, Mrs. Lillian W. Betts, author of two
enlightening books, ^ has lived for a year in one
of the most crowded tenements in one of the
most densely populated sections of the Italian
quarter. We condense some of her statements,
which reveal the foreign life of to-day in New
York's Little Italy, with its 400,ocx? souls.

"A year's residence in an Italian tenement
taught me first of all the isolation of a foreign
quarter ; how completely cut off one may be from
everything that makes New York New York.
The necessities of life can be bought without
leaving the square that is your home. After a

iCommissioner-General's Report for igos, p. 58.

^The Leaven of a Great City, and The Story of an East Side Family.

The Foreign Peril of the City 205

Httle it occasioned no surprise to meet grand-
parents whose own children were born in New
York, who had never crossed to the east side of j
the Bowery, never seen Broadway, nor ever been 1

south of Houston Street. There was no reason I
why they should go. Every interest in their life I
centered within four blocks. I went with a '
neighbor to Saint Vincent's Hospital, where her
husband had been taken. I had to hold her hand
in the cars, she was so terrified. She had lived
sixteen years in this ward and never been on a
street-car before. Of a family of five sons and ,
two daughters, besides the parents, in this coun-
try fifteen years, none spoke English but the
youngest, born here, and she indifferently. Lit-
tle Italy was all of America they knew, and of
curiosity they had none.

"The house in which we lived was built for Children
twenty-eight families and occupied by fifty-six. j^"^"?^'
One man who had been in the country twenty-
eight years could not speak or understand a word
of English. Nothing but compulsion made his
children use Italian, and the result was pathetic.
The eldest child was an enthusiastic American,
and the two civilizations were always at war.
This boy knew more of American history, its
heroes and poetry, than anyone of his age I ever ,
met. This boy had never been five blocks from ;
the house in which we lived. He removed his \
hat and shoes when he went to bed in winter ; in

2o6 Aliens or Americans?

summer he took of¥ his coat. A brother and
two sisters shared the folding bed with him. His
father hired the three rooms and sublet to a man
with a wife and three children. The women
quarreled all the time, but worked in the same
room, finishing trousers and earning about forty-
five cents a day each.
Evils of "How do they live? One widow, with three

Overcrowding: jj^ j^gj. Qy^^ family, took nine men boarders in her
three rooms. A nephew and his wife also kept
house there, the rent being $i8 a month. An-
other neighbor, whose family consisted of four
adults and two children, had seven lodgers or
boarders at one time. These men owned mat-
tresses, rolled up by day, spread on the floor at
night. One of them had a bride coming from
Italy. Two men with their mattresses were
ejected and space made for the ornate brass and
green bedstead. The wedding was the occasion
of great rejoicing. Next day the bride was put
to work sewing 'pants.' At the end of a month
I found she had not left those rooms from the
moment she entered them, and that she worked,
Sundays included, fourteen hours a day. She
was a mere child, at that. The Italian woman is
not a good housekeeper, but she is a homemaker ;
she does not fret ; dirt, disorder, noise, company,
never disturb her. She must share everything
with those about her. She cooks one meal a day
and tliat at night. Pot or pan may be placed

The Foreign Peril of the City 207

in the middle of the table and each may help him-
self from it, but the food is what her husband
wants.

"Together they will wash the dishes or he will F»^"y
take the baby out. The mother, who has sewed
all day, will wash till midnight, while the husband
sits dozing, smoking, talking. But he hangs out
the clothes. They work together, these Italian
husbands and wives. Their wants are the barren
necessaries of life ; shelter, food, clothing to
cover nakedness. The children's clothes are
washed when they go to bed. Life is reduced
to its lowest terms. They can move as silently
as do the Arabs and do so in the night watches.
But they are rarely penniless ; they have a little
fund always in the bank. They put their young
children in institutions from weaning-time until
they are old enough to work, then bring them
home to swell the family income. Recently a
father, whose children had thus been cared for
by the state, bought a three-story tenement. This
is typical thrift. There was never a day when ajl
the children of school age were in school.
School was a prison house to most of them.
There was not room for them, even if they
wanted to go.

"The streets in which the Italians live are the City Neglect
most neglected. It is claimed that cleanliness is
impossible where the Italian lives. The truth is
that preparation for cleanliness in our foreign

2o8 Aliens or Americans?

colonies is wholly inadequate. The police despise
the Italian except for his voting power. He feels
the contempt, but with the wisdom of his race
he keeps his crimes foreign, and defies this de-
partment more successfully than the public gen-
erally knows. He is a peaceable citizen in spite
of the peculiar race crimes which startle the pub-
lic. The criminals are as one to a thousand of
these people. On Sundays watch these colonies.
The streets are literally packed with crowds from
house line to house line, as far as the eye can see,
but not a policeman in sight, nor occasion for
one. Laughter, song, discussion, exchange of
epithet, but no disturbance. They mind their
own business as no other nation, and carry it to
the point of crime when they protect the
criminal. "1

PossibUities of This is testimony directly from life and has
Uplifting especial value. It reveals the difficulties, and at
the same time the possibilities, of reaching and
Americanizing these immigrants, who are better
than their surroundings, and promising if prop-
erly cared for.

Sources of The imprcssiou that steadily deepens with
Degradation Q]jggj.ya^iQj^ ^^d study is that of the evil and
■ degrading surroundings. Not only are there the

evil moral influences of overcrowding, but also
the contact with elements of population already
deteriorated by a generation of tenement house

University Settlement Studies, January, ipoS.

The Foreign Peril of the City 209

life. The fresh arrivals are thrown into contact
with the corrupt remnants of Irish immigration
which now make up the beggars, drunkards,
thugs, and thieves of those quarters. The results
can easily be predicted. The Italian laboring
population is temperate when it comes to this
country ; but under the evil conditions and influ-
ences of the tenement district disorderly resorts
have been opened, and drinking and other vices
are spreading. The Hebrews show tendencies to
vices from which formerly they were free. The
law does not protect these immigrants, and it is
charged that the city permits every kind of
inducement for the extension of immorality,
drunkenness, and crime. Thus the immigrant is
likely to deteriorate and degenerate in the process
of Americanization, instead of becoming better
in this new world. He has indeed little chance.
If he does not become a pauper or criminal or
drunkard, it will be because he is superior to his
environment.

///. The Sweat-shop Peril

An immigrant peril is the sweat-shop labor An Awful
which this class performs. "Sweating" is the
system of sub-contract wherein the work is let
out to contractors to be done in small shops or
at home. According to the Illinois Bureau of
Labor Statistics, "in practice sweating consists of
the farming out by competing manufacturers to

2IO

Aliens or Americans?

competing contractors of the material for gar-
ments, which in turn is distributed among com-
peting men and women to be made up." This
system is opposed to the factory system, where
the manufacturer einploys his own workmen, sees
the goods made, and knows the conditions. The
sweating system is one of the iniquities of com-
mercial greed, and the helpless foreigner of cer-
tain classes is its victim. The contractor or
sweater in our cities is an organizer and employer
of immigrants. His success depends upon get-
ting the cheapest help, and life is of no account
to him, nor apparently to the man above him.
The clothing may be made in foul and damp and
consumption or fever-infested cellars and tene-
ment-styes, by men, women and children sick or
uncleanly, but the only care of the sweater is that
it be made cheaply and thus his returns be
secured. It is a standing reproach to our Chris-
tian civilization that the sweating system and the
slums are still existing sores in American cen-
ters of population. So far the law has been
unable to control or check greed, and the plague
spots grow worse. Here is a typical case, taken
from the report of the Industrial Commission :
A Striking "A Polish Jcw in Chicago, at a time when very
Example ^j^^ Poles wcrc tailors, opened a shop in a

Polish neighborhood. He lost money during the
time he was teaching the people the trade, but
finally was a gainer. Before he opened the shop

tff.

The Foreign Peril of the City 211

he studied the neighborhood ; he found the very
poorest quarters where most of the immigrant
Poles lived. He took no one to work except the
newly arrived Polish women and girls. The
more helpless and dependent they were, the more
sure of getting work from him. In speaking
about his plans he said : 'It will take these girls
years to learn English and to learn how to go
about and find work. In that way I will be able
to get their labor very cheap.' His theory
turned out to be practical. He has since built
several tenement-houses."

The cheap tailor business is divided among the
Italians, Russians, Poles, and Swedes, Germans
and Bohemians. The women and children are
made to work, and hours are not carefully
counted. Long work, poor food, poor light, foul
air, bad sanitation — all make this kind of life far
worse than any life which the immigrants knew
in Europe. Better physical starvation there than
the mental and spiritual blight of these modern
conditions here. That so much of hopeful
humanity is found in these unwholesome and con-
gested wards proves the quality worth saving
and elevating.

Here is an illustration of the resolute spirit
which conditions cannot crush. A young Polish
girl was brought by her widowed mother to
America, in hope of bettering their condition.
The mother died soon afterward, leaving the

A Foreign
Importation

Sto<-y of a

Sweat-shop

Girl

212 Aliens or Americans?

orphan dependent. Then came the disappoint-
ments, one after another, and finally, the almost
inevitable result in such cases, the fall into
the slums and the sweat-shops. By hard
work six days in the week, fourteen or more
hours a day, this girl of tender age could make
$4 a week ! She had to get up at half past five
every morning and make herself a cup of coffee,
which with a bit of bread and sometimes fruit
made her breakfast. Listen to her story :

"The machines go like mad all day, because the
faster you work the more money you get. Some-
times in my haste the finger gets caught and the
needle goes right through it. We all have acci-
dents like that. Sometimes a finger has to come
ofif. . . . For the last two winters I have been
going to night school. I have learned reading,
waiting, and arithmetic. I can read quite well in
English now, and I look at the newspapers every
day. I am going back to night school again this
winter. Some of the women in my class are
more than forty years of age. Like me, they did
not have a chance to learn anything in the old
country. It is good to have an education; it
makes you feel higher. Ignorant people are all
low. People say now that I am clever and fine in
conversation. There is a little expense for
charity, too. If any worker is injured or sick we
all give money to help."^

'Hamilton Holt, Undistinguished Americans, 43 £E.

The Foreign Peril of the City 213

Surely this is good material. A changed and Possibilities
Christian environment would make shining lights
out of these poor immigrants, who are kept in the
subways of American life, instead of being
given a fair chance out in the open air and sun-
light of decently paid service.

Practically all of the work in tenements is car- *■ Foreign
ried on by foreign-born men and women, and
more than that, by the latest arrivals and the
lowest conditioned of the foreign-born. Tene-
ment-house legislation has been practically forced
upon New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsyl-
vania, whose ports of entry receive the first
impact of immigration, by two of the races that
have been crowding into the cities — the Italian
and Hebrew. The Italian woman, working in
her close tenement, has by her cheap labor almost
driven out all other nationalities from that class
of work still done in the home, the hand sewing
on coats and trousers. Of the 20,000 licenses
granted by the New York factory inspector for
"home finishing" in New York City, ninety-five
per cent, are held by Italians. This work has to
be done because the husband is not making
enough to support the family. These men work
mostly as street laborers, hucksters, and peddlers.
To make both ends meet not only the wife but
children have to work.

Here is a typical case of this class of worker ATypicaiCa»e
and the earnings, from an inspector's note-book :

214 Aliens or Americans?

"Antonia' Scarafino, 235 Mulberry Street; fin-
isher ; gets five cents per pair pants, bastes bot-
toms, puts linings on ; one hour to make ; two
years at this business ; four in this country ; mar-
ried, with baby ; sister works with her ; can both
together make $4 per week ; husband peddles fish
and makes only $1 to $2 a week ; got married
here; two rooms, $8.50 rent; kitchen 10x12;
bedroom 8x10; gets all the work she wants.
No sunlight falls into her squalid rooms, and
there is no stopping, from early morning till late
at night."

IV. Three Constant Perils

The Natural!- Illegal and fraudulent naturalization is another
zation Evil ^^.j ^yi^ici^ tj^g foreigner in the city becomes a
party, although the blame belongs chiefly to the
ward politicians who make him a particeps
criminis. The recognized managers of the for-
« eign vote of various nationalities — almost always
saloonkeepers — hold citizenship cheap, perjury
undiscovered as good as truth, and every vote a
clear gain for the party and themselves. So the
naturalization mills are kept running night and
day preceding a national or municipal election.
Describing this process, ex-United States Senator
Chandler says that in New York during a single
month just before election about seven thousand
naturalization papers were issued, nearly all by
one judge, who examined each applicant and

The Foreign Peril of tiie City 215

witnesses to his satisfaction, and signed his
orders at the rate of two per minute, and as
many as 618 in one day. Many classes of frauds
were committed. Witnesses were professional
perjurers, each swearing in hundreds of cases,
testifying to a five years' residence when they
had first met the applicants only a few hours
before. During the past year some of these pro-
fessional perjurers and political manipulators
were tried and sent to the penitentiary ; but the
frauds will go on. Here is an illustration :

"Patrick Hefferman, of a given street in New Making
York, was twenty-one years old September 2,
1891, and came to this country August i, 1888.
He was naturalized October 20, 1891. On that
day he was introduced by Thomas Keeler to a
stranger, who went with him to court and signed
a paper; they both went before the judge, who
asked the stranger something. Hefferman signed
nothing, said nothing, but kissed a book and
came out a citizen, having taken no oath except
that of renunciation and allegiance."

Thus are the sacred rights of citizenship Fraud
obtained by thousands upon thousands, not in
New York alone, but in all our cities. More than
that, fraudulent use is freely made of naturaliza-
tion papers. The Italian immigrant, for exam-
ple, finds his vote is wanted, and obtains a false
paper. He returns to Italy to spend his earnings,
and there is offered a sum of money for the use

2i6 Aliens or Americans?

of his papers. These are given to an emigrant
who probably could not pass the examination at
Ellis Island, but who as a naturalized citizen,
if he is not detected in the fraud, cannot be shut
out. Then he sends the papers back to Italy.
It is admitted that there is a regular traffic in
, naturalization papers. In every way the alien is
put on the wrong track, and his American experi-
ences are such as would naturally make him
lawless and criminal rather than a good citizen.
He needs nothing more than protection against
corrupting and venal agencies, which find their
origin in politics and the saloon.
The Saloon The foreign element furnishes the saloons with
Immigrant victims. In his graphic book describing tenement
life in New York Mr. Riis shows the rapid mul-
tiplication of the saloons in the slums where the
foreigners are crowded into tenements, nine per
cent, more densely packed than the most densely
populated districts of London. In the chapter,
"The Reign of Rum,"i he says :
Testimony " 'Where God builds a church the devil builds
°^ ^"^ next door a saloon' is an old saying that has lost
its point in New York. Either the devil was on
the ground first, or he has been doing a good deal
more in the way of building. I tried once to find
out how the account stood, and counted to lii
Protestant churches, chapels, and places of wor-
ship of every kind below Fourteenth Street,

ijacob Riia How the Other Half Lives, chap. XVIIL

The Foreign Peril of the City 217

4,065 saloons. The worst half of the tenement
population lives down there, and it has to this
day the worst half of the saloons. Up town the
account stands a little better, but there are easily
ten saloons to every church to-day.

"As to the motley character of the tenement Hunting for

an American

population, when I asked the agent of a notorious
Fourth Ward alley how many people might be
living in it, I was told: One hundred and forty
families — one hundred Irish, thirty-eight Italian,
and two that spoke the German tongue. Barring
the agent herself, there was not a native-born
individual in the court. The answer was charac-
teristic of the cosmopolitan character of lower
New York, very nearly so of the whole of it,
wherever it runs to alleys and courts. One may
find for the asking an Italian, German, French,
African, Spanish, Bohemian, Russian, Scandina-
vian, Jewish, and Chinese colony. The one thing
you shall ask for in vain in the chief city of
America is a distinctively American community."

The immigrant is nearly always poor, and is The Perii of
thrust into the poverty of the city. We must ^"^'^"^
distinguish between pauperism and poverty. As
Mr. Hunter points out, in his stirring chapter
on this subject,! "pauperism is dependence with-
out shame, poverty is to live miserable we know
not why, to have the dread of hunger, to work

*Robert Hunter, Poverty, chap. I. This is a book that every
American should read. The author is indebted to it for much of
the material in this chapter.

2l8

Aliens or Americans ?

sore and yet gain nothing." Fear of pauperism,
of the necessity of accepting charity, drives the
self-respecting poor insane and to suicide. It
is to be said that the majority of the immigrants
are not paupers, but self-respecting poor. More-
over, the new immigration is not nearly so ready
to accept pauperism as are the Irish, who make
up the largest percentage of this class, as already
shown. But the poor immigrants are compelled,
by circumstances, to come in contact with, if
not to dwell directly among, this pauper element,
lost to sense of degradation. The paupers make
up the slums. And because the rents are cheaper
in the miserable old rookeries that still defy pub-
lic decency, the Italians especially crowd into
these pestilential quarters, which are the hotbeds
of disease, physical and moral filth, drunkenness,
and crime. Thus pauperism and poverty dwell
too closely together.
Some Causes Upon the unskilled masses the weight of
of Poverty ^a^t is Constantly pressing. Unemployment,
sickness, the least stoppage of the scant income,
means distress. It is estimated that in our coun-
try not less than 4,000.000 persons are depend-
ents or paupers, and not less than 10,000,000 are
in poverty. This means that they cannot earn
enough regularly to maintain the standard of
life that means the highest efficiency, and that
at some time they are liable to need aid. Mr.
Riis has shown that about one third of the people

The Foreign Peril of the City 219

of New York City were dependent upon charity
at some time during the eight years previous to
1890. The report of the United Hebrew Chari-
ties for 1901 shows similar conditions existing
among the Jewish population of New York.
Pauperism is a peril, and poverty is a source of
apathy and despair. The unskilled immigrant
tends to increase the poverty by creating a sur-
plus of cheap labor, and also falls under the
blight of the evil he increases.

Treating of this subject, the Charities Asso- Pauperism
ciation of Boston reports that it is hopeless """'^
to attempt to relieve pauperism so long as its
ranks are increased by the great hosts coming
into the country, with only a few dollars to
depend upon, and no certain work. The statis-
tics of the public almshouses show that the pro-
portion of foreign-born is greatly in excess of the
native-born. The pathetic feature of this condi-
tion is that what is wanted is not charity but
employment at living wages. Greatly is it to the
credit of the immigrants from southeastern
Europe that they are eager for work and reluc-
tant to accept charity. The danger is that, if
allowed to come and then left without oppor-
tunity to work, they will of necessity fall into
the careless, shiftless, vicious class, already so
large and dangerous.

The immigrants in the city tenements are espe-
cially exposed to consumption, that "Great White

220 Aliens or Americans?

Peril of the Plasfue which yearly kills its tens of thousands.

"Great White ^ ° , ^. , , ,

Plague" -In New York City alone ten thousand die annu-
ally of tuberculosis ; and this is the result largely
of tenement conditions. Statisticians estimate
that the annual money loss in the United States
from tuberculosis, counting the cost of nursing,
food, medicines, and attendance, as well as the
loss of productive labor, is $330,000,000. Mr.
Hunter instances a case where an entire family
was wiped out by this disease within two years
and a half. In spite of his efforts to get the
father, who was the first one infected with the
disease, to go to a hospital, he refused, saying
that as he had to die, he was going to die with
his family. The Health Board said it had no
authority forcibly to compel the man to go to a
hospital ; and the result was that the whole fam-
ily died with him. This plague "is the result of
■ our weakness, our ignorance, our selfishness,
and our vices ; there is no need of its existence,
and it is the duty of the state to stamp it out "
That is Mr. Hunter's conclusion, with which we
heartily agree.

V. The Cry of the Children

Peril of Another peril of the city, and of the entire

Child Neglect (.Quntry as well, that comes through the foreign-
ers is child neglect and labor; which means illit-
eracy, stunted body and mind, and often wreck-
age of life. Every foreign neighborhood is full

The Foreign Peril of the City 221

of children, and sad enough is the average child
of poverty. What makes the tenement district
of the great city so terrible to you as you go
into it is the sight of the throngs of children, who
know little of home as you know it, have irregu-
lar and scanty meals, and surroundings of intem-
perance, dirt, foul atmosphere and speech, disease
and vice. No wonder the police in these dis-
tricts say that their worst trouble arises from
the boys and the gangs of young "toughs."
There is every reason for this unwholesome prod-
uct. Mr. Hunter says there are not less than
half a million children in Greater New York
whose only playground is the street. Result, the
street gang; and this gang is the really vital
influence in the life of most boys in the large
cities. It is this life, which develops, as Mr. Riis
says, "dislike of regular work, physical incapa-
bility of sustained effort, gambling propensities,
absence of energy, and carelessness of the happi-
ness of others." The great homeless, yardless
tenement, where the children of the immigrants
are condemned to live, is the nursery of sickness
and crime. The child is left for good influence
to the school, the settlement, or the mission. For
the enormous amount of juvenile crime in the
city, which it requires a special court to deal
with, the conditions are more responsible than
the children, or even than the parents, who are
unable to maintain home life, and who, through

222 Aliens or Americans?

the pinch of poverty or the impulse of avarice,
give over the education of the children to school
or street. Here is a picture of the life on its
darker side:

Street Life "Crowdcd in the tenements where the bed-
of Children j-^^j^g ^^.^ Small and often dark, where the living
room is also a kitchen, a laundry, and often a
garment-making shop, are the growing children
whose bodies cry out for exercise and play. They
are often an irritant to the busy mother, and
likely as not the object of her carping and scold-
ing. The teeming tenements open their doors,
and out into the dark passageways and courts,
through foul alleys and over broken sidewalks,
flow ever renewed streams of playing children.
Under the feet of passing horses, under the
wheels of passing street-cars, jostled about by
the pedestrian, driven on by the policeman, they
annoy everyone. They crowd about the music
or drunken brawls in the saloons, they play hide-
and-seek about the garbage boxes, they shoot
'craps' in the alleys, they seek always and every-
where activity, movement, life."^
Imprisoned But worse than this picture is that of child-
cbiidhood j^QQ^j sweat-shop, the factory, the mine, and

other places of employment. Mr. Hunter has
written a chapter on "The Child"^ that should be
studied by every lover of humanity. Its facts
ring out a clarion call for reform. This touches

'Robert Hunter, Povtrty, jg6. 'Idem, chap. V.

The Foreign Peril of the City 323

our subject most closely because, as he says,
"These evils of child life are doubly dangerous
and serious because the mass of people in poverty
in our cities are immigrants. The children of
immigrants are a remarkable race of little ones."

Indeed they are, and they give you the bright
side of the picture, in spite of all the evil condi-
tions in which they live. The present writer stood
recently opposite the entrance to a public school
in the congested East Side, where not one of all
the thousand or more of scholars was of native
stock. As the crowds of little girls poured out
at noontime their faces made a fascinating study.
The conspicuous thing about them was the smile
and fun and brightness. The dress was of every
description, and one of the merriest-faced of all
had on one shoe and one rubber in place of the
second shoe ; but from the faces you would
never suspect into what kind of places these
children were about to go for all they know
of home. The hope lies in the children, and the
schools are their great blessing and outlet, even
if as Mrs. Betts says, many of them of certain
classes do not think so. Mr. Hunter says:

"They are to become Americans, and through
them, more than through any other agency, their
own parents are being led into a knowledge of
American ways and customs. All the statistics
available prove that vice and crime are far more
common among the children of immigrants than

Happy

CbUdhood

What Kind
of Americans?

224

Aliens or Americans?

among the children of native parentage, and this
is due no less to the yardless tenement and street
playground than to widespread poverty. In a
mass of cases the father and mother both work
in that feverish, restless way of the new arrival,
ambitious to get ahead. To overcome poverty
they must neglect their children. Turned out of
the small tenement into the street, the child
learns the street. Nothing escapes his sharp eyes,
and almost in the briefest conceivable time, he
is an American ready to make his way by every
known means, good and bad. To the child every-
thing American is good and right. There comes
a time when the parents cannot guide him or in-
struct him; he knows more than they; he looks
upon their advice as of no value. If ever there
was a self-made man, that man is the son of the
immigrant. But the street and the street gang
have a great responsibility ; they are making the
children of a hundred various languages from
every part of the world into American citizens."
A Plain Duty How long will American Christianity allow
this process of degeneracy to go on, before realiz-
ing the peril of it, and providing the counteract-
ing agencies of good? That is the question the
young people ought to consider and help answer.
Child Labor But far worse than all else, "the nation is
engaged in a traffic for the labor of children."
In this country over 1,700,000 children under
fifteen are compelled to work in the factories.

The Foreign Peril of the City 225

mines, workshops, and fields. These figures may
mean little, for as Margaret McMillan has said,
"You cannot put tired eyes, pallid cheeks, and
languid little limbs into statistics." But we be-
lieve that if our Christian people could be brought
for one moment to realize what the inhumanity
of this child labor is, there would be such an
avalanche of public opinion as would put a stop
to it. This evil is a new one in America, begotten
of greed for money. This greed is shared jointly
by the capitalist employer and the parents, but
the greater responsibility rests upon the former,
who creates the possibility and fosters the evil.

The immigrants furnish the parents willing to Alien Victims
sell their children into child slavery in the fac-
tory, or the worse mill or mine — prisons all,
and for the innocent. Into these prisons gather
"tens of thousands of children, strong and happy,
or weak, underfed, and miserable. Stop their
play once for all, and put them out to labor for
so many cents a day or night, and pace them with
a tireless, lifeless piece of mechanism, for ten
or twelve hours at a stretch, and you will have
a present-day picture of child labor." But there
is yet one thing which must be added to the pic-
ture. Give the child-slave worker a tenement
for a home in the filthy streets of an ordinary
factory city, with open spaces covered with tin
cans, bottles, old shoes, garbage, and other waste,
the gutters running sewers, and the air foul with

226 Aliens or Americans?

odors and black with factory smoke, and the pic-
ture is fairly complete. It is a dark picture, but
hardly so dark as the reality, and if one were
to describe "back of the yards" in Chicago, or
certain mill towns or mining districts, the pic-
ture would be even darker than the one given.
The Shame o7^ Think of it, young people of Christian Amer-
the Century , ^j^^ twentieth century, in the country we

like to think the most enlightened in the world,
after all our boasted advancements in civiliza-
tion, child slavery — more pitiful in some respects
than African slavery ever was — has its grip on
the nation's childhood.
An Appalling 'j'j^g fccord IS amazing to one who has never

Record

thought about this subject. Easily a hundred
thousand children at work in New York, in all
sorts of employments unsuitable and injurious.
Try to realize these totals, taken from Mr. Hun-
ter, of children under fifteen, compelled to work
in employments generally recognized as in-
jurious : Over 7,000 in this country in laundries ;
nearly 2,000 in bakeshops ; 367 in saloons as bar-
tenders and other ways ; over 138.000 at work
as waiters and servants in hotels and restaurants,
with long hours and conditions morally bad ;
42,000 employed as messengers, with work hours
often unlimited and temptations leading to im-
morality and vice ; 20,000 in stores ; 2.500 on the
railroads ; over 24,000 in mines and quarries ;
over 5,000 in glass factories; about 10,000 in

The Foreign Peril of the City 227

sawmills and the wood-working industries ; over
7,500 in iron and steel mills ; over 1 1,000 in cigar
and tobacco factories ; and over 80,000 in the silk
and cotton and other textile mills.

Now, all of these industries are physically Soui Murder
injurious to childhood. But more than this, Money
schooling has been made impossible, and immoral-
ity, disease, and death reap a rich harvest from
this seed-sowing. And why are these helpless
children thus engaged and enslaved, stunted,
crippled, and corrupted, deprived of education
and a fair chance in life? Simply because their
labor is cheap. Mr. Hunter speaks none too
strongly when he calls this "murder, cannibalism,^
destruction of soul and body." And it is the chil-
dren of the immigrants who are thus sacrificed
to Mammon, the pitiless god of greed. Shall
our Christian young people have no voice in
righting this wrong? Within a generation they
can put an end to it, if they will. Here is home
missionary work at hand, calling for highest
endeavors.

228

Aliens or Americans?

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER VI

Aim : To See Clearly the Dangers Arising from
Congestion of Foreigners in our Cities, and the
Best Ways of Guarding against Them

I. Foreigners in Cities.

1. What are the chief causes of the following:
(i) the rapid growth of great cities; (2) the
existence of slums; (3) the settling of immi-
grants in colonies?

2. Is your knowledge of the lives of the poor
sufficient to move you to work for their re-
demption? Are any of those persons, about
whom we have studied, your neighbors?

3. Is the prevailing tone of New York and
other cities American or Foreign? Give illus-
trations.

4. What is the prevailing tone in city govern-
ment? Is there any connection between the
answers of these last two questions?

II. Tenement-House Evils.

5. Where do most of the foreigners settle first in
the United States? Of what races is the mass
chiefly composed?

6. Describe the conditions under which they live.
Do they find them so or make them so?

7. What remedies can be applied to tenement-
house conditions? What do the workers
among them think of the needs and prospects?

8. What can be done toward improvement by the
family? the school? the city government?

III. Prevalent Abuses.

g. Do the slum conditions tend to contaminate
new arrivals? Do they actually deteriorate?

The Foreign Peril of the City 229

10. What is the worst industrial feature of the
tenement-house districts? Describe its work-
ings. Tell of some typical sweat-shop workers.

11. What political evils flourish in the congested
districts?

12. What moral and social evils flourish in the
congested districts?

IV. Effects upon the Poor and the Children.

13. What relation does immigration hold to
pauperism and poverty? To conditions of
health ?

14. Name some of the principal authorities for the
preceding answers? How would you answer
those who disputed their statements?

15. Can you give any facts as to child labor? What
do you think of the policy of employing chil-
dren?

16. *Does this chapter convince you that Christians

have a duty in these matters, and if so, what
is it?

References for Advanced Study. — Chapter VI
I. New York Slums and Foreign Quarters.

Study especially the Ghetto, Little Italy, Little
Hungary, et al. and find out whether similar
conditions exist in cities of your section.

For New York, consult
University Settlement Studies, Vol. i, Nos. 3 and 4.
Riis: How the Other Half Lives, X, XIL

For Chicago, consult
Hull House Papers.

For Boston, consult
Wood: Americans in Process, III, IV.

230 Aliens or Americans?

II. Measures for Relief of Slum Population.
Riis: The Battle With the Slum. V-XV.
Riis: How the Other Half Lives, VI, VII, XXIV.

III. Connection between a Dense Foreign Population
and Corruption in Politics.

Wood : Americans in Process, VI.

IV. Checks Put upon Industrial Oppression and
Poverty.

Riis: The Peril and the Preservation of the Home.
V. Problems of Poverty and Childhood as Affected
by Immigration.
Hunter: Poverty, I, V, VI.

Riis: How the Other Half Lives, XV, XVII, XXI.

"To make us love our country, our
country ought to be lovely," said Burke.
If there is to be patriotism, it must be
a matter of pride to say, "Americanus
sum" — / am an American. — Professor
Mayo-Smith.

VII

IMMIGRATION AND THE NATIONAL
CHARACTER

231

If that man who careth not for his own household is
worse than an infidel, the nation which permits its insti-
tutions to be endangered by any cause that can fairly be
removed, is guilty, not less in Christian than in natural
law. Charity begins at home; and while the people of
the United States have gladly offered an asylum to
millions upon millions of the distressed and unfortunate
of other lands and climes, they have no right to carrj-
their hospitality one step beyond the line where Ameri-
can institutions, the American rate of wages, the Ameri-
can standard of living are brought into serious peril.
Our highest duty to charity and to humanity is to make
this great experiment here, of free laws and educated
labor, the most triumphant success that can possibly
be attained. In this way we shall do far more for
Europe than by allowing its slums and its vast stagnant
reservoirs of degraded peasantry to be drained off upon
our soil. — General Francis A. Walker.

If the hope which this country holds out to the human
race of permanent and stable government is to be
impaired by the enormous and unregulated inroad of
poverty and ignorance, which changed conditions of
transportation have brought upon us, then for the sake
of Europe, as well as for the sake of Ame rica, the com-
ing of these people should be checked and regulated
until we can handle the problems that are already facing
us. — Phillips Brooks.

There are certain fundamentals in every system, to
destroy which destroys the system itself. Our institu-
tions have grown up with us and are adapted to our
national character and needs. To change them at the
demand of agitators knowing nothing of that character
and those needs would be absurd and destructive.—
Professor Mayo-Smith.

ISfl

VII

IMMIGRATION AND THE NATIONAL
CHARACTER

/. Two Points of View

IMMIGRATION is a radically different prob- ^^'^^p'^",

lem from that of slavery, but not less vital to
the Republic. It is a marvelous opportunity for a
Christian nation, awake ; but an unarmed in-
vasion signifying destruction to the ideals and
institutions of a free and nominally Christian
nation, asleep. "The wise man's eyes are in his
head," says Solomon, "but the fool walketh in
darkness." In other words, the difference
between the wise and otherwise is one of sight.
While Americans are walking in the darkness
of indifferentism and of an optimism born not of
faith but ignorance, immigration is steadily
changing the character of our civilization. We
are face to face with the larger race problem —
that of assimilating sixty nationalities and races.
The problem will never be solved by minimizing
or deriding or misunderstanding it.

All through this study we have sought to
remember that there are two sides to every ques-

233

234 Aliens or Americans?

The Two iion, and two to every phase of this great immi-
gration question. Especially is this true when we
come to estimating effects upon character, for
here we are in the domain of inference and of
reasoning from necessarily limited knowledge.
Here, too, temperament and bias play their part.
One person learns that of every five persons you
meet in New York four are of foreign birth or
parentage, notes the change in personality, cus-
toms, and manners, and wonders how long our
free institutions can stand this test of unrestricted
immigration. Another answers that the foreign-
ers are not so bad as they are often painted, and
that the immorality in the most foreign parts
of New York is less than in other parts.
Different A third says it is not fair to count the
Opinions q£ foreign-born parents as foreign ;

that they are in fact much stronger Americans
in general than the native children of native par-
entage ; and instances the flag-drills in the
schools, in which the foreign children take the
keenest delight, as they do in the study of Ameri-
can history. But a fourth says, with Professor
Boyesen, that it takes generations of intelligent,
self-restrained, and self-respecting persons to
make a man fit to govern himself, and that if the
ordinary tests of intelligence and morality
amount to anything, it certainly would' take three
or four generations to educate these newcomers
up to the level of American citizenship.

Immigration and National Character 235

One observer of present conditions says
there is a lowered moral and political tone by
reason of immigration; and another agrees with
a leader in settlement work who recently said to
the writer that he sees no reason to restrict immi-
gration, that wages will take care of themselves
and the foreigner steadily improve, and that there
is in the younger foreign element a needed dy-
namic, a consciousness of Americanism, an inter-
est in everything American in refreshing contrast
to the laissez-faire type of native young person
now so common. His conclusion, from contact
with both types, is that the intenseness and enthu-
siasm of the foreign element will make the native
element bestir itself or go under.

So opinions run, pro and con. There must
be a mean between the two extremes — the one,
that God is in a peculiar sense responsible for the
future of the United States, and cannot af¥ord
to let our experiment of self-government fail,
however foolish and reckless the people may be ;
and the other, that unless Congress speedily
passes restrictive laws the destiny of our country
will be imperiled beyond remedy. We find such
a mean in that Americanization which includes
evangelization as an essential part of the assimi-
lating process.

As to the ubiquity of the foreigner all will
agree. "Any foreigners in your neighborhood?"
asked the writer of a friend in a remote country

Conflicting
Views

Mean

between
Extremes

Foreigners
Everywhere

236 Aliens or Americans?

hamlet. "O, yes," was the reply, "we have a
colony of Italians." Of all such questions asked
during months past not one has been answered in
the negative. Go where you will, from Atlantic
to Pacific Coast, the immigrant is there. In
nineteen of the northern states of our Republic
the number of the foreign-born and their immedi-
ate descendants exceeds the number of the
native-born. In the largest cities the number is
two thirds, and even three quarters. There are
more Cohens than Smiths in the New York
directory. Two thirds of the laborers in our fac-
tories are foreign-born or of foreign parentage.
New England is no longer Puritan but foreign.
So is it in the Middle and the Central West, and
not only in city and town but hamlet and valley.
The farms sanctified by many a Puritan prayer are
occupied to-day by French-Canadian and Italian
aliens. Foreigners are running our factories,
w'orking our mines, building our railways, bor-
ing our tunnels, doing the hard manual labor in
all the great constructive enterprises of the
nation. They are also entering all the avenues
of trade, and few other than foreign names can be
seen on the business signs in our cities large or
small.

Foreignism -j^Tqi. f^^^ ^j^g foreigner, of one

Preserved - ' °

race or another, everv'where, but wherever you
find him in any numbers you note that the most
distinctive feature is the foreignism. The immi-

Four Nationalities
Jewish Girl Polack Girl

Italian Boy Spanish Boy

Immigration and National Character 237

grant readily catches the spirit of independence
and makes the most of liberty. He is insistent
upon his rights, but not always so careful about
the rights of others. He is imitative, and absorbs
the spirit of selfishness as quickly as do the
native-born. He is often unkempt, uncul-
tured, dirty, and disagreeable. He is also impres-
sionable and changeable, responsive to kindness
as he is resentful of contempt. He follows his
own customs both on Sundays and week days.
He knows as little about American ideas as
Americans know about him. He is commonly
apt to learn, and very much depends upon the
kind of teaching he falls under. Much of it,
unfortunately, has not been of the kind to make
the American ideas and ways seem preferable to
his own. Made to feel like an alien, he is likely
to remain at heart an alien ; whereas the very
safety and welfare and Christian civilization of
our country depend in no small degree upon
transforming him into a true American. For
upon this change hangs the answer to the ques-
tion, which influence is to be strongest — ours
upon the foreigner or the foreigner's upon us.

//. American Ideals

Surely this is a question to engage the atten- a Question tot
tion of Christian patriots — the influence of this
vast mass of undigested if not indigestible immi-
gration upon the national character and life. A

238 Aliens or Americans?

most scholarly and valuable treatment of this
subject is found in the discriminating work by
Professor Mayo-Smith, one of the very best
books written on the subject. The figiires are
out of date, but the principles so clearly enun-
ciated are permanent, and the conclusions sane
and sound. This is the way he opens up the
subject we are now considering:
The Marks of "The wholc life of a nation is not covered by
sation'' its politics and its economics. Civilization does

not consist merely of free political institutions
and material prosperity. The morality of a com-
munity, its observance of law and order, its free-
dom from vice, its intelligence, its rate of mor-
tality and morbidity, its thrift, cleanliness, and
freedom from a degrading pauperism, its observ-
ance of family ties and obligations, its humani-
tarian disposition and charity, and finally its
social ideals and habits are just as much indices
of its civilization as the trial by jury or a high
rate of wages. These things are, in fact, the
flower and fruit of civilization — in them consists
the successful 'pursuit of happiness' which our
ancestors coupled with life and liberty as the
inalienable rights of a man worthy of the name.

'Tn order that we may take a pride in our
nationality and be willing to make sacrifices for
our country, it is necessary that it should satisfy
in some measure our ideal of what a nation ought
to be. What now are the characteristics of

Immigration and National Character 239

American state and social life which we desire
to see preserved? Among the most obvious are
the following:

"(i) The free political constitution and the ability American
to govern ourselves in the ordinary affairs of life, Ideals
which we have inherited from England and so sur-
prisingly developed in our own history;

"(2) The social morality of the Puritan settlers of
New England, which the spirit of equality and the
absence of privileged classes have enabled us to
maintain ;

"(3) The economic well-being of the mass of the
community, which affords our working classes a degree
of comfort distinguishing them sharply from the
artisans and peasants of Europe;

"(4) Certain social habits which are distinctively
American or are, at least, present in greater degree
among our people than elsewhere in the world. Such
are love of law and order, ready acquiescence in the
will of the majority, a generally humane spirit, display-
ing itself in respect for women and care for children and
helpless persons, a willingness to help others, a sense
of humor, a good nature and a kindly manner, a
national patriotism, and confidence in the future of the
country.

"All these are desirable traits; and as we look
forward to the future of our commonwealth we *
should wish to see them preserved, and should
deprecate influences tending to destroy the con-
ditions under which they exist. Any such
phenomenon as immigration, exerting wide and
lasting influence, should be examined with great

240 Aliens or Americans?

Protestant
Relieioa Vital

American Life
Chan^ng

care to see what its effect on these things will
be."i

We should add to this thoughtful statement a
clause concerning religion. A vital thing to be
maintained and extended is the Protestant faith
which formed the basis of our colonial and
national life. No part of the subject should re-
ceive more careful scrutiny than the effect of
immigration upon Protestant America. What-
ever would make this country less distinctively
Protestant in religion tends to destroy all the
other social and civil characteristics which, it is
well said, we wish to preserve.

When immigration began in the early years
of the nineteenth century, the American people
possessed a distinctive life and character of their
own, differing in many respects from that of
any other people. The easy amalgamation of the
races that formed the colonial stock — English,
Huguenot, Scotch, Dutch — had produced an
American stock distinct from any in the Old
World. The nation was practically homogeneous,
and its social, religious, and political ideals and
aims were distinct. That great changes have
taken place in the past century no one will deny.
The material expansion and development have
not been more marked than the changes social
and religious.

Just what part immigration has played in

'Richmond Mayo-Smith. Emigration and Immigration, s flf.

Immigration and National Character 241

producing these changes it is of course difficult influence of

. , , • 1 < 1 Immigratioa

to say With exactness, but unquestionably the
part has been very great. The twenty-three mil-
lions of aliens admitted into the United States
since 1820 brought their habits and customs and
standards of living with them ; brought also their
religion or want of it ; and it would be absurd to
imagine that all of these millions had been Ameri-
canized, or, in other words, had given up their
old ways for our ways of thinking and living.
On the contrary, they have transported all
sorts of political notions from monarchial coun-
tries to our soil. "The continental ideas of the
Sabbath, the nihilist's ideas of government, the
communist's ideas of property, the pagan's ideas
of religion — all these mingle in our air with the
ideas that shaped the men at Plymouth Rock and
Valley Forge," that adorned hill, dale and prairie
with Christian church and Christian school, and
made possible the building of free America.

As we have seen, the immigrants have mostly The Grad* of
represented the peasant or lower classes of the Aliens
countries whence they came. This is noted, not
in the way of prejudice, but because it is always
true that mortality is greater, and crime, illiter-
acy, and pauperism are more prevalent among
the lower classes. Of course it is also true that
if the higher classes had come from foreign lands
they would have made an addition to the social
life quite different from that which did come.

242 Aliens or Americans?

Bad Effects of
New Environ-
ments

The average character of the immigration, how-
ever favorable, required raising in order to meet
the American level. In the new environment it
was to be expected that large numbers of indi-
viduals among the immigrants would rise to
prominence and influence, and this has been the
case. The country owes large debt to the immi-
grants of earlier days. Their children and
descendants are loyal Americans. It is true, on
the other hand, that many have come from unfor-
tunate conditions in the Old World only to fall
into quite as unfortunate ones in the New ; and
they and their descendants have swollen the
pauper and criminal class. The statistics prove
that a large proportion of our criminals and con-
victs are of foreign birth. It is still more signifi-
cant to note that, in the opinion of expert
observers, the first generation of foreign-bom
parentage, in the cities at least, make a worse
record than the migrating parents.

If this be so, the new environment is producing
deterioration and degeneracy instead of improve-
ment. An Italian of education, working among
his people, told the writer that the Italian boys
and girls born here, or coming at a very early
age, were much more lawless and disorderly and
difficult to deal with than their fathers and
mothers. They had imbibed all the worst
features of our life, its independence, its defiance
of parental authority, its selfishness, rudeness,

Immigration and National Character 243

and vices, while they lacked the reverence,
courtesy, and spirit of obedience native to the
Italian-born. This is substantiated by many wit-
nesses who have labored among the foreign ele-
ment. The Americanization these children are
getting is largely of the worst type — the type that
we should like to see emigrate to European coun-
tries. And it is confined to no one race, but com-
mon to all. Professor Boyesen, for instance, a
Norwegian-American, who blamed the ideas
gained in the public schools for some of the
results seen in the young hoodlums and roughs
of foreign parentage, said that worthy German
and Scandinavian fathers complained bitterly
that they could not govern their children in this
country. Their sons took to the streets, and if
disciplined left home entirely ; and they attributed
this to the spirit of irresponsible independence
in the air. This is perhaps one of the inevitable
penalties of individual liberty.

///. Various Effects of Immigration
The introduction through immigration of a Maying Life
lower standard of living has been shown in pre-
ceding chapters. The point to be appreciated is
that in this matter we are not dealing with the
immigration of individual paupers and cheap
workingmen, but with the influx of whole classes
that threaten to degrade our material civilization.
There are in America entire communities which

244

Aliens or Americans?

live on a different plane, and form colonies as
foreign to American ideas and life as anything in
Europe can show. They have organized their
own social life and fixed their own standards,
instead of rising to ours. The results are plain
all over the country. Immigration has cheapened
more than wages in certain lines, it has cheapened
life, until the coal barons could say, "It is cheaper
to store men than coal." But men may be too
cheap.

Good Qualities Some of the best qualities in the irami-

Bad if Abused < . < , . rr^, . r p

grants are liable to abuse. Thrift, for mstance,
is commendable, but not when it is exercised at
the expense of decent living. Economy is an
admirable trait, but not when practiced at the ex-
pense of manhood and decent conditions. A dis-
tinct deterioration of the masses displaced by the
cheaper labor has marked the advent of the new
immigration. While some of the workingmen
thrown out of employment by immigration rise
with the increase in the number of superior posi-
tions, the great mass are obliged to accept the
lower standard or are forced out of the industry
into misery, pauperism, and crime. The greater
tendency of immigrants, by reason of their pov-
erty, to permit or encourage the employment of
their wives or children, still further increases the
intensity of the competition for employment. In
view of all the facts, a recent writer argues that
the limitation or restriction which would reduce

Immigration and NaticKial Character 245

a Result of too
Large Immi.
gration

False
Reasoning

the volume and improve the economic quality of
immigration would greatly improve labor condi-
tions in this country.

Under the present free inflow, says this writer, Deterioration
"the condition of the great mass of the work-
ing classes of this country is being perma-
nently depressed, and the difference between the
industrial condition of the unskilled workers in
our country and of other countries is being stead-
ily lessened to our permanent and great detri-
ment."i

As to the economic effects of unrestricted
immigration, the stock argument that it costs a
foreign country a thousand dollars to raise a
man, and that, therefore, every immigrant is that
much clear money gain to this country, simply
begs the question of the usefulness of the immi-
grant and the country's need of him. Many im-
migrants are not worth what it cost to raise them,
to their native land or any other; and at any
rate, a man is only of value where he can fit into
the community life and do something it needs to
have done. Another naive claim is that every
mouth that comes into the country brings with it
two hands, the assumption being that there is
necessarily work for the two hands. If not, then
there is an extra mouth to be fed at somebody
else's expense. The real question is one of
demand and quality.

'Walter E Heyl, in University Settlement Studies.

246 Aliens or Americans?

Education"" ^^^^ immigration had, and what

is it Hkely to have, upon our national educational
policy? The parochial school is opposed to the
public school ; the parochial school is Roman, the
public school American. The parochial schools
could not secure scholars but for immigration.
The Roman Catholic Church is persistently trying
to get appropriations of public money for paro-
chial schools, although well aware that this is
directly contrary to the fundamental American
principle of absolute separation of Church and
State ; and is relying upon the foreign vote to
accomplish this un-American purpose. Here is
an illustration of the conditions made possible
through unchecked immigration and the wielding
of this immigration by priestly influence :
Baneful In Illinois the foreign element outnumbers the

Results in ^. . ,. -r ,

Illinois native m voting power. In consequence compul-
sory education in the public schools of that state
was voted down by a legislature pledged to obey
the dictum of the foreign element. Where the
priests wield the foreign element in favor of the
parochial schools, it is not possible to pass a bill
for compulsory education in the English lan-
guage.

Parochial The Striking fact is given by Dr. Wame^ that

Pennsylvania parochial schools for the Slav children in Penn-
sylvania, English is not taught, and the children
are growing ug as thoroughly foreign and under

'F. J. Warne, The Slav Invasion, 103.

Immigration and National Character 247

priestly control as though they were in Bohemia
or Galicia.

A student of this subject^ says that all the facts
indicate that the time will come when, if com-
pulsory education in English is not maintained
by the states, this important matter will have to
be made one of national legislation. "The supine
bowing of the native element in our political par-
ties to this foreign, domineering, un-American
and denationalizing opposition to the state control
of the education of the child for citizenship is in
itself a menace. When we hear of public schools
in America taught in German and Polish, instead
of the language of Emerson and Longfellow, Lin-
coln and Grant, one feels like taking, not
Diogenes' lantern, but an Edison searchlight, and
going about our streets to see if there be in all
our cities a patriot." More evil in results than
this, and most insidious of all the attempts of the
Roman Catholic hierarchy to undermine Ameri-
can principles, is the system of so-called com-
promise by which some of the public schools are
taught by nuns, sisters, and priests, who wear
their Church garb, and use the school buildings
during certain hours for sectarian instruction.
The mere statement of the facts ought to be
sufficient to bring about drastic remedies, but the
easy-going Protestants apparently do not realize
what is being done.

*Rena M. Atchison, Un-American Immigration, 82.

248 Aliens or Americans?

Schools the
Sure Way to
Americanism

ERcctc upon

Political

Conditions

American patriotism must steadily and reso-
lutely resist every Roman Catholic attack, open
or covert, upon our public schools, every attempt
to divert public moneys to sectarian purposes.
This is vital to the preservation of our civil and
religious liberty. For the immigrant children the
public schools ar^ the sluiceways into American-
ism. When the stream of alien childhood flows
through them, it will issue into the reservoirs of
national life with the Old World taints filtered
out, and the qualities retained that make for
loyalty and good citizenship. We shall have to
look to our school boards, elevate them above
party politics and the reach of graft, and elect
upon them men and women instinct with the
spirit of true Americanism, or see this mightiest
agency of modern civilization diverted from its
high mission to produce for the Republic an en-
lightened and noble manhood and womanhood.

What is the eflFect of the addition of so many
thousands of men of voting age upon our political
conditions ? Undoubtedly demoralizing and dan-
gerous. Professor Mayo-Smith says : "We are
thus conferring the privilege of citizenship, in-
cluding the right to vote, without any test of the
man's fitness for it. The German vote in
many localities controls the action of political
leaders on the liquor question, oftentimes in
opposition to the sentiment of the native com-
munity. The bad influence of a purely ignorant

Immigration and National Character 249

vote is seen in the degradation of our municipal
administrations in America."^ The foreign-born
congregate in the large cities, especially the
mass of unskilled laborers. There they easily
come under control of leaders of their own race,
who use them to further selfish ends. Fraudulent
naturalization is another evil result. There is no
more dangerous element in the Republic than a
foreign vote, wielded by unscrupulous partisans
and grafters. The immigrant is not so much to
blame as are those who corrupt him, but if he
were not here they would have no opportunity.
In order to wield a bludgeon a bully must have
the bludgeon.

There is an unquestioned and increasing evil a voter
and peril in a German vote, an Irish vote, a fo*'Re*^d'*hit'''*
Scandinavian vote, an Italian vote, and a Hebrew Ballot
vote. Out in South Dakota a Russian vote also
has to be reckoned with, and in New England a
French-Canadian vote. All this is undemocratic
and unwholesome in the highest degree. Our
government is based upon the intelligent and
responsible use of the ballot. How can such use
be possible in the case of the naturalized alien
who cannot read or write our language or any
other? No one can declare it unreasonable that
a reading test as a qualification for voting should
be required of all. On the brighter side of the
political phase, it is asserted that it was the for-

•Richmond Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration 84 ff.

250 Aliens or Americans?

eign element of the East Side in New York that
made possible the election of a reform candidate
in a recent election, and that this element can be
relied upon for reform and independent voting
quite as much as the American society element,
which is frequently too indifferent to vote at all.
There is too much truth in this. At the same
time, one who is familiar with the discussions at
the People's Forum in Cooper Institute, New
York, or similar meeting places of the foreign
element in other large cities, knows how essen-
tially un-American are the point of view and the
theories most advocated.

IV. The Religions Problem

Effects upon What is the effect of immigration upon the
Religious religious life of the country? This is an exceed-

Conditions °

ingly difficult matter upon which to generalize-
There is no doubt that great changes have taken
place in the religious views and practices of the
people, but how far these can be attributed to
foreign influence is something upon which agree-
ment will be rare and judgment difficult. It will
be instructive, first of all, to study this table,
which gives the results of questions asked the
immigrants in 1900 concerning their religious
connections. This was the last inquiry of the
kind officially made, and will indicate what reli-
gious elements in immigration must be taken into
consideration :

Immigration and National Character 251

RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF THE IMMIGRATION FOR 1900

, g

Countries

Total

Protest

c-^

Greek
Catlioli

-H ^

■s 8

■ S =3

Austria-Hungurv ....

64,835

5,009

39,694

7,699

11,082

1.351

Belgium.

1,728

967

661

Denmark ...

3.253

2,629

578

France

4 902

165

1,736

2,934

German Kmpirc . . .

25.904

10,258

6,758

401

8,463

Greece

2.450

2,35

Italy

79.C64

78,306

1,281

Netherlsndj.

1,994

839

190

957

7 113

6.674

437

Portugal

2,269

2,056

211

Roumania . .

1,655

160

"31

1,350

Russian Empire and

Finland

62.537

13,295

22,462

1,470

24,351

958

Servia, Bulgaria .

Spain

1,428

"is

704

709

Sweden

13.541

12.708

824

Switzerland

2,2$i

710

608

" 6

963

Turkey in Europe

137

United Kingdom

65,390

12,611

31,216

197

21,361

Total Europe

341,161

65',238

184.835

11,695

37^442

41.934

Total Asia

9,726

452

1,390

2,833

3,373

1,553

109

^ill other countries. . .

20.440

1.274

2,178

"ii

228

6,721

•Grand total

361,436

66,977

188.412

14.539

37,523

3,001

110

50,274

Percentage in each

100

18.54

52.14

4.03

10.39

.99

13.91

'Represents the recapitulation of totals of Europe, Asia, Alnca and cll
other countries.

In analyzing these figures, it will be noted Ei'ghty
that the Roman Catholics had fifty-two per cent.

. Non-Pr

in a year when the total immigration of 361,436 tant
(not much over one third that of the present
time) was about the same in the proportion of
aliens from southeastern Europe as now. The
Jews would make a larger showing at present, as
the immigrants from Russia are almost wholly
Jews. The Protestant strength certainly would
not be any greater proportionately. The large

252

Aliens or Americans?

number put down as miscellaneous is significant.
What a task is laid upon American Protestantism
— nothing less than the evangelization of nearly
eighty-two per cent, of the vast immigration. It
is easy to say that the fifty-two per cent, is nomi-
nally Christian, but in fact that nominal Chris-
tianity is in many respects as much out of
sympathy with American religious ideals, with
democracy and the pure gospel, as is heathenism ;
and it is in many cases as difficult to reach, and
as great an obstacle to the assimilation of the
aliens.

Sunday Looking at various results of this incoming

Observance ^lost, in regard to reverence for Sunday and
observance of it, it is fair to assume that the mil-
lions of Germans, with their continental Sun-
day, were leaders in breaking in upon our Sun-
day customs. While they have as a people
observed the laws — although seeking to have the
laws changed so as to permit here the home
customs of open concert halls and beer gardens
on Sunday afternoon and evening — their influ-
ence has been strongly felt in favor of loose
Sunday observance, and this has been sufficient
to stimulate the natural tendency of the Ameri-
can element to make the day one of amusement
and recreation, regardless of laws. The result
is that now we have a lawless American Sunday
quite different from and more objectionable than
the continental Sunday.

Immigration and National Character 253

In the larger cities throughout the country the Disregard of
encroachments of the money-makers have been
steady. Performances of all kinds are permitted,
theaters run either openly or with thinly veiled
programs, saloons are open to those who know
where the proper entrances are, and many forms
of business and labor are carried on seven days
in the week. The Jews claimed that it was a
hardship to have to close on Sunday, when their
religious observances came on Saturday, with
result that a good many manage to keep shops
and factories open all the year around. Pleas
of necessity have been put forward where con-
tractors desired to push jobs and profits. Sun-
day excursions are universal, and in order to
gain their Sunday pleasure-outings several mil-
lions of people of all races keep several other
millions hard at work on the day of rest. All
places are crowded on Sunday except the
churches. Go among the foreign elements in the
city and you would never know it was Sunday.
Holiday has supplanted holy-day. Observe the
trolley-cars or subway or elevated trains on Sun-
day and you will see nine foreigners out of every
ten persons. Go into the suburbs and you will
find springing up in out-of-the-way places, where
land can be secured cheap, little recreation parks,
with games and dancing platforms ; and here
there will be throngs of Italians and other for-
eigners all day.

254

Aliens or Americans?

Loss of the

American

Sunday

General
Deterioration

Let US be just in this matter. The loss of
the American Sunday is undoubtedly due in
great measure to immigration ; due in part to the
weakness and dereliction of American professing
Christians who have surrendered to the foreign
elements and fallen in with their ideas instead of
maintaining public worship and insisting upon
respect for law at least. Let the blame fall where
it belongs, and let the Church members recreant
to duty take their share. When the sea threat-
ened Holland her resolute people built the dykes
and maintained them ; American Christians have
failed to stop the leaks in the church dykes, and
we have had a Sunday submergence in conse-
quence. The effect of it upon our national de-
velopment is already evident and is most disas-
trous to our highest interests. Sabbath-breaking
and progress-making never go together. Sunday
work and pleasure combined fonn the peril alike
of the American workingman and of Christian
civilization.

Along with this inflow of alien ideas in reli-
gion goes a lowered morality and a lower tone
generally. Not that the sins of those in high
places are to be charged upon the poor immi-
grant, for he rarely if ever belongs to that class.
The statement may be true that the great rascals
are of native stock. But that only increases the
peril. The masses that come to us from southern
Europe certainly will not raise the moral or com-

Immigration and National Character 255

The Only

mercial, any more than they will the political or
intellectual, level. If we do not raise them they
will tend to lower us ; and much of what they
see and hear can have nothing less than a demoral-
izing effect.

Where shall we find the zealous and con-
sistent Christians who by sympathetic contact Libert"'* °^
will represent the true spirit of Christianity, and
make the elevation of the aliens possible? The
supreme truth to be realized is that nothing but
Christianity, as incarnated in American Protest-
antism, can preserve America's free institutions.

Ex-President Seelye, of Amherst, said that so- spread of
cialism is the question of the time, and this is
more apparent with every passing year. Social-
ism has its source in the foreign element. It is
.not native to America. Its swelling hosts are
composed almost entirely of immigrants of recent
coming. It is found not only in the great cities
\but is spreading through the farming sections. •
Now, there is a truth in socialism that must be
intelligently dealt with; and there is a Christian
socialism that should become dominant. And
this is the only force that can check and counter-
act the foreign socialism that would sweep away
foundations instead of ameliorating conditions
and remedying evils.

In the same way, Protestant Christianity is the Migration a
only agency that can save us from the moral
degeneracy involved in migration, even if the

256 Aliens or Americans?

immigrants were of our moral grade before
coming. As Dr. Strong says, the very act of
migration is demoralizing. All the strength that
comes from associations, surroundings, relations,
the emigrant leaves behind him, and becomes
isolated in a strange land. Is it strange, then,
that those who come from other lands, whose old
associations are all broken and whose reputations
are left behind, should sink to a lower moral
level? Across the sea they suffered restraints
which are here removed. Better wages afford
larger means of self-indulgence ; often the back
is not strong enough to bear prosperity, and lib-
erty too often lapses into license.^
Why Foreign This result of migration is at once an evil and
Pej^etuaud Opportunity. Breaking away from the old

associations leaves room and necessity for new
ones. Upon the character of these the future of
the immigrant will largely depend. Here is the
Christian opportunity. See to it that the new asso-
ciations make for righteousness and patriotism. If
the immigrant is evangelized, assimilation is
easy and sure. It is recognition of this fact that
leads the Roman Catholic Church to keep for-
eign colonies in America as isolated and per-
manent as possible. The ecclesiastics realize that
children must be held in the parochial schools,
so as to avoid the Americanization that comes
through the public schools, with the probable

'Josiah Strong, Our Country, 56.

Immigration and National Character 257

loss of loyalty to the Church. The parents equally
must be kept away from the influences that would
broaden and enlighten them. Dr. Strong tells
of large colonies in the West, settled by foreign-
ers of one nationality and religion ; "thus build-
ing up states within a state, having different lan-
guages, different antecedents, different religions,
different ideas and habits, preparing mutual jeal-
ousies, and perpetuating race antipathies. In
New England conventions are held to which only
French-Canadian Roman Catholics are admitted.
At such a convention in Nashua, New Hampshire,
attended by eighty priests, the following mottoes
were displayed : 'Our tongue, our nationality,
our religion,' 'Before everything else, let us re-
main French !' " And it is well said : "If our
noble domain were tenfold larger than it is, it
would still be too small to embrace with safety to
our national future, little Germanics here, little
Scandinavias there, and little Irelands yonder."
To-day there are also little Italies and little Hun-
garies, and a long list of other races.

V. The Hopeful Side

Turning to the pleasanter and brighter side of
this great question, we give the encouraging view * Brighter
of one who has spent years among the immigrant
population, studying their environment, condi-
tions, and character, with view to improving their
chances. She says:

258 Aliens or Americans?

"The writer will risk just one generalization
which, it is hoped, the ultimate facts will bear
out, that in the case of the new immigration we
shall see a repetition of the story of the old immi-
grant we are so familiar with. First comes the
ignorant and poor but industrious peasant, the
young man, alone, without wife or family. For
a few years he works and saves, living according
to a 'standard of life' which shocks his older
established neighbors, and we may guess would
often shock his people at home. At first he
makes plans for going back, sends his savings
home, and perhaps goes back himself. But he
usually returns to this country, with a wife.
America has now become his home, savings are
invested here, land is bought, and a little house
built. The growing children are educated in
American schools, learn American ways, and
forcibly elevate the 'standard of life' of the
family. The second generation, in the fervor
of its enthusiasm for change and progress be-
comes turbulent, unruly, and is despaired of.

"But out of the chaos emerges a third gen-
eration, of creditable character, from whom much
may be expected. Our Austrian, Hungarian, and
Russian newcomers are still in the first and
second stages, and there seems no good reason
why they should not pull through successfully to
the third. But in that endeavor we can either
help or materially hinder them, according to our

Immigration and National Character 259

treatment of them, as employees, as producers,
as fellow citizens. America, for her own sake,
owes to the immigrant not only the opportunities
for 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'
that she promises to every man, but a sympathetic
appreciation of his humanity, and an intelligent
assistance in developing it."^

This is a picture of progress in assimilation How the
to be remembered, and the conclusion is admir-
ably expressed. Assimilation is made easy when
the wheels of contact are oiled by kindness and
sympathy. The children lead the way to Ameri-
canization. Mr. Brandenburg gives this report
of a conversation overheard in an Italian tene-
ment in New York, the parties being a mother,
father, and the oldest of three daughters: "Said
the mother in very forcible Tuscan : 'You shall
speak Italian and nothing else, if I must kill you ;,
for what will your grandmother say when you
go back to the old country, if you talk this pig's
English?' 'Aw, g'wan! Youse tink I'm goin*
to talk dago 'n' be called a guinea ! Not on your
life. I'm 'n American, I am, 'n you go 'way back
an' sit down.' The mother evidently understood
the reply well enough, for she poured forth a
torrent of Italian, and then the father ended mat-
ters by saying in mixed Italian and English:
'Shut up, both of you. I wish I spoke English
like the children do.' Many parents have learned

•Kate H.Claghorn, in Charities for December, 1904.

26o Aliens or Americans?

good English in order to escape being laughed
at or despised by their children."^

The language is not classic, but it is that of
real life such as these children have to endure.
The rapidity with which foreigners become
Americanized is illustrated, said Dr. Charles B.
Spahr, by the experience of a gentleman in Bos-
ton. In his philanthropic work he had gotten
quite a hold on the Italian population. A small
boy once asked him : "Are you a Protestant ?"
He said "Yes," and the boy seemed disappointed.
But presently he brightened up and said, "You
are an American, aren't you?" "Yes." "So
am I !" with satisfaction. Children become
American to the extent that they do not like to
have it known that they have foreign parents.
One little girl of German parentage said of her
teacher: "She's a lady — she can't speak German
at all." Where assimilation is slow, it is quite
as likely to be the fault of the natives as of the
immigrants, much more likely, indeed. How
can he learn American ways who is carefully and
rudely excluded from them? We build a Chinese
wall of exclusiveness around ourselves, our
churches, and communities, and then blame the
foreigner for not forcing his way within.

In a thoughtful treatment of this whole sub-
ject, Mr. Sidney Sampson says:-

•Broughton Brandenburg, Imported Americans, 19.
'Sidney Sampson, pamphlst, " The Immigratioa Problem.'

Immigration and National Character 261

"It has become a pressing and anxious question The Real
whether American institutions, with all their
flexibility and their facility of application to new
social conditions, will continue to endure the
strain put upon them by the rapid and ceaseless
introduction of foreign elements, unused, and
wholly unused in great measure, to a system of
government radically differing from that under
which they have been educated. Can these
diverse elements be brought to work in har-
mony with the American Idea? The centuries
of subjection to absolutism, or even despotism, to
which the ancestors of many of the immigrant
classes have been accustomed, has formed a type
of political character which cannot, except after
long training, be brought into an understanding
of, and sympathy with, republican principles.
This is by far the most important aspect of the
question, much more so than questions of indus-
trial competition."

If the republic will not ultimately endure harm,
he believes industrial questions will slowly but
surely right themselves ; if otherwise, none even
of the wisest can foresee the result. We give his
conclusion :

"What is to be the outcome of this movement Optimism the
of the nations upon American political and indus- ^'^"*
trial life is a question which confronts us with a
problem never before presented in the world's
history. Upon a review of the entire situation I

26? Aliens or Americans?

think we may be optimists. Notwithstanding all
unfavorable features, there are antagonizing ele-
ments constantly at work, not the less potent
because they work silently. We may attach
undue importance to statistics merely.
AssimUating "Studcuts of the immigration problem do not
Agencies sufficiently observe the influences — in fact, the
immigrant may not himself be conscious of
them — which year after year tend to adjust his
habits of thought and his political views and
actions to his new environment. Freedom of
suffrage, educational advantages, improved in-
dustrial conditions, the dignity of citizenship,
equal laws, protection of property — all these
nourish in him an increasing respect for the
American system ; and we have reason to believe
that, under proper legislation, the combined influ-
ence of all these will in the long run fully neutral-
ize the distinctly unfavorable results of future
immigration."

Solution by With this wc are in accord, provided the Chris-
Forces tian people of America can be brought to see and
do their whole duty by the aliens. The solution
of the problem demands the combined forces of
our educational, social, political, and evangelical
life. In that solution is involved the destiny of
ultimate America.

Immigration and National Character 263;

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER VII

Aim: To Realize the Effect of Immigration Upon
THE National Character and Our Individual
Responsibility for Improving Conditions

I. Reasons for Concern.

1. * Do you think that immigration makes a very-

serious problem for the United States? Why?
Mention others who think differently. Why do
you not agree with them?

2. * Are there any foreigners in your neighbor-

hood? What are they and what can you do
for them?

3. Do these immigrants long retain their foreign
aspect and ways? In what respects do they
change most quickly?

4. What does Professor Mayo-Smith say about
keeping American ideals intact? Must Protest-
ant Christianity be guarded?

II. Threatening Changes.

5. In what respects has immigration since 1820
introduced un-American standards ?

6. * Have the average character and the plane of

living of the immigrants been raised or low-
ered by their coming here ? Same as to
wages? As to intelligence?

7. * How are our public schools affected? Is there

any menace to our school system? Can we
provide compulsory education for all the chil-
dren?

III. Other Effects.

8. Do these new Americans learn to use the ballot
rightly? Can they learn?

264

Aliens or Americans?

9. Does their coming make genuine Christianity
more or less prominent in the national life?
What effect does it have on Sunday observ-
ance? Does it lessen or increase lawbreaking?

IV. National Bulwarks.

10. What are the safeguards pointed out by
Professor Boyesen? By ex-President Seelye?

11. How can Socialism be met?

12. * Will an>'thing but Qiristianitj- effectively

guard our institutions?

13. How far will material improvements help to
uplift and assimilate the newcomers?

14. Do the children learn patriotism from their
new country? Do they keep it when grown
up?

15. * Is there good reason for being optimistic?

Upon what condition may we be hopeful?

References for Advanced Study. — Chapter VII

I. Study further some of the specific effects of the
immigrants' presence.
Wame : The Slav Invasion, V, VI.
Wood : Americans in Process, VII, VIII.
Riis : How the Other Half Lives, XVIII, XXI.
II. Wliat can you learn about the present status of the
parochial school movement, especially in your
own vicinity ?

Refer to local periodicals and daily papers.
III. Is assimilation of foreigners taking place every-
where, or only in certain places?
McLanahan : Our People of Foreign Speech, I.
Hall: Immigration, 172, 182.
Wood : Americans in Process, XII.
Strong : The Twentieth Centurj- City. IV.

Immigration and National Character 265

Are our school facilities, actual or prospective,
likely to prove sufficient for the demands made
upon them?

Riis: How the Other Half Lives, XV, XVI.
Wood : Americans in Process, X.
Hunter: Poverty, V.

The Christian Churches in America
stand face to face with a tremendous
task. It is a challenge to their faith,
their devotion, their zeal. The accom-
plishment of it will mean not only thk
ascendancy of Christianity in the home-
land, but also the gaining of a position
of vantage for world-wide evangelization.
— E. E. Chivers, D.D.

VIII

THE HOME MISSION OPPORTUNITY

267

The question of supreme interest to us is the religious
question. What share shall the Church have in making
Christian Americans of these immigrants? How may
Church and State work together for the solution of the
problem, on the solution of which very largely the
future prosperity of the State and the Church depends. —
Charles L. Thompson, D.D.

The future success of missions will be largely affected
by the success of the Church in dealing with problems
that lie at her very door. The connection between home
and foreign missionary work is living. The conversion
of the world is bound up with the national character
of professedly Christian lands. — Rev. Herbert Anderson,
English Missionary in India.

"The blood of the people! changeless tide through

centurj', creed, and race.
Still one, as the sweet salt sea is one, though tempered

by sun and place.
The same in ocean currents and the same in sheltered

seas :

Forever the fountain of common hopes and kindly
sympathies.

Indian and Negro, Saxon and Celt, Teuton and Latin
and Gaul,

Mere surface shadow and sunshine, while the sounding
unifies all !

One love, one hope, one duty theirs! no matter the
time or kin,

There never was a separate heart-beat in all the races
of men."

263

VIII

THE HOME MISSION OPPORTUNITY

/. Alien Accessibility
"^AVE America and you save the world." a unique

Through immigration the United States is
in a unique sense the most foreign country and the
greatest mission field on the globe. "All peoples
that on earth do dwell" have here their repre-
sentatives, gathered by a divine ordering within
easy reach of the gospel. Through them the
world may be reached in turn. Every foreigner
converted in America becomes directly or indi-
rectly a missionary agent abroad, spreading
knowledge of the truth among his kindred and
tribe. ^ The greatness of the opportunity is the
measure of obligation. God's message to this
nation has been thus interpreted: "Here are all
these people ; I have taken them from the over-
crowded countries where they were living and
sent them to you, that you may mass your forces
and lend a hand to sav« them." No such oppor-
tunity ever came to a nation before. The Chris-

'Fung Yuet Mow, Chinese missionary in New York, says that at
a missionary Conference which he attended in Camton there were fifty
missionaries present, native Chinese, and half of them were converted
in our missions in Amerioa, and returned home to seek the conver-
sion of their people. Everywhere he met the influence of Chinese
who found Christ in this country.

269

270

Aliens or Americans?

tian church must seize it or sink into deserved
decadence and decay. Only a missionary church
can save the world or justify its own existence.
The manner in which American Christianity
deals with the religious problems of immigration
will decide what part America is to play in the
evangelization of the nations abroad.
The Gospel -yy^ j^^vc now reached the vital part of our

the Chief, .

Pactor . subject. We have learned to discriminate be-
tween peoples and find the good in all of them.
We have seen that assimilation is essential to
national soundness and strength. But we have
yet to realize that the most potential factor in
assimilation is not legislation or education but
evangelization. There is no power like the gospel
to destroy race antipathies, break down the bars
of prejudice, and draw all peoples into unity,
brotherhood, and liberty — that spiritual freedom
wherewith Christ makes free. When American
Protestantism sees in immigration a divine mis-
sion none will discover in it thenceforth a human
menace.

Shan America Marvclous mission, involving the destiny of
chruuln ^^^^ America. A writer asks, "Will New Eng-
land be kept Christian?" and answers, "That
depends. Population is greatly changing. Immi-
grants from all parts of the world are here.
They will continue to come. Unless they are
molded according to the principles of our reli-
gion, they will greatly increase the irreligious

The Home Mission Opportunity 271

elements of New England, already too large. ■•

There is a religious basis in those who come,
but it will require an application of religious
agencies to make them truly Christian citi-
zens."i Put America in place of New Eng-
land, and the question and answer will be as
pertinent. Shall America be kept Christian?
That depends. It depends upon what American
Christians do.

Few of the immigrants are evangelical in reli- immigrants

, , . , , , not EvangeV

gion. They know nothmg of our gospel, and icai
little or nothing of the Bible. The religious
principles they have been taught are totally
opposed to the spirit of our free institutions of
religion. They know priestly sovereignty but not
soul liberty. They are the creatures of a system,
and the system is thoroughly un-American and
inimical to freedom of conscience and worship.
But thousands and tens of thousands of them
are out of sorts with the system and are ready
for something better.^ They have lost faith in
their Church and will lose it in religion unless
we teach them the gospel. To accomplish this
result two persons must be changed — the immi-
grant and the American. Alien assimilation de-
pends largely upon American attitude.

'Henry H. Hamilton in the Hom^ iWisi»o«ary. • • "• ■•• 'i"

'In one city in Massachusetts, where there are 1,700 Italians
only fifty or sixty attend the Roman Catholic Church; and in
another, of 6,000 Italians, only about 300 go to that church. They
declare that they are tired of the Romish Church and have lost
faith in its priests. Similar reports come from all parts of the
country.

2^2

Aliens or Americans?

Queattoot

Two Ttmcijr Two qucstions conffont us squarely as we
approach this subject. First, the common one.
What do we think of the immigrant? And sec-
ond, the less common but not less important one,
What does the immigrant think of us? It will
do us good, as Americans and as Christians, to
consider Ixjth of these frankly. Honestly, what
is your attitude toward the ordinary immigrant?
Do you want him and his family, if he has one, in
your church? Do you not prefer to have him
in a mission by himself? Would you not rather
work for him by proxy than with him in person?
Do you not pull away from him as far as possible
if he takes a seat next to you in the car ? Actual
contact is apt to mean contamination, germs,
physical ills. He is ignorant and uncultured. You
desire his conversion — in the mission. You wish
him well — at a convenient distance. You would
much more quickly help send a missionary to the
Chinese in Cliina than be a missionary to a
Chinaman in America, would you not? Think
it over, Christian, and determine your personal
relation to the immigrant. Is he a brother man,
or a necessary evil ? Will you estahdish a friendly
relation with him, or hold aloof from him? Does
your attitude need to be changed?

What, now, do you suppose this "undesirable"
immigrant thinks of America and Protestant
Christianity? What has he reason to think, in
the light of his previous dreams and present

The Allen
PoLot of View

The Home Mission Opportunity 273

realizations? W^hat does Protestant Christianity
do for him from the time he reaches America?
What will he learn of our free institutions — in
the tenement slums or labor camps or from the
"bosses" who treat him as cattle — that will teach
him to prize American citizenship, desire reli-
gious liberty, or lead a sober, respectable life?
If we are in earnest about the evangelization of
the immigrant we must put ourselves in his place
occasionally and get his point of view. When
we think fairly and rightly of the immigrant, and
treat him in real Christian wise, he will soon
come to think of us that our religion is real,
and this will be a long step toward the change
■we desire him to undergo. We shall never ac-
complish anything until we realize that the com-
ing of these alien millions is not accidental but
providential.

//. Missionary Beginnings

The first human touch put upon the immi- Alien Accessi-
grant in the new environment is vastlv important " Home

° . - ' _ _ Mission Possi-

in its effects. He is easily approachable, if biiity
rightly approached. Alien accessibility makes
home mission possibility. The approach may not
at first be on the distinctively religious side, but
there i« a way of access on some side. A living
gospel incarnated in a living, loving man or
•woman is the "open sesame" to confidence first
and conversion afterward. Make the foreigner

274 Aliens or Americans?

feel that you are interested in him as a man, and
the door is open beyond the power of priestcraft
to shut it. The priest may for a time keep the
Catholic immigrant away from the Protestant
church but not from the Protestant cordiality
and sympathy ; and if these be shown it will not
be long before the immigrant, learning rapidly to
think for himself, will settle the church-going
according to his own notion. A kind word has
more attractive power than a cathedral. You will
never win an Italian as long as you call him or
think of him as "dago," nor a Jew while you
nickname him "sheeny." The immigrant wants
neither charity nor contempt, but a man's recog-
nition and rights, and when American Christians
give him these he will believe in their Chris-
tianity and be apt to accept it for himself.

Home mission work of a distinctive character
should and does begin at the point of landing in
the New World. At Ellis Island, for example,
there are now some thirty missionaries, repre-
senting the leading Christian denominations.
This gives proof of the partial awakening of the
Churches to the importance of this work. It is
only of late years that any special attention has
been paid to the welfare of the incomers, either
by State or Church. Now both are seeking to
throw safeguards around the immigrants and
secure them a fair start. A large room is set
apart for the missionaries in the receiving build-

The Home Mission Opportunity 275

ing at Ellis Island, and they perform a service
of great good both to the aliens and the country.
First impressions count tremendously, and happy
is it for the immigrant who gets this initial im-
pression from contact with a Christian missionary
instead of a street sharper. Once put the touch of
human kindness upon the immigrant and he is
not likely to forget it. The hour of homesick-
ness, of strangeness in a strange land, of per-
plexity and trouble, is the hour of hours when
sympathy and help come most gratefully. The
missionaries are on hand at this critical juncture.
Thousands of immigrants are saved from falling
into bad hands and evil associations through
their zealous efforts. Thousands are supplied
with copies of the Testament, the sick and
sorrowful are comforted, the rejected are
tenderly ministered to in their distress, and the
gospel is preached in the practical way that
makes it a living remembrance. This is one
way in which a true and enduring assimilation
is begun.

Here is a single illustration of the unexpected
results of this first Christian touch in the new
world. One of the women missionaries was very
kind to a Bohemian family, helping the father
find his destination and get settled. At parting,
the missionary gave him a Testament and asked
him to read it when in trouble. He thanked her
for all her kindness to him and his family, and

276 Aliens or Americans?

said he would keep the book for her sake. He
put it away and forgot all about it. One day his
little girl got the book and tore a leaf out. When
he learned what she had done he was very angry,
and punished her for tearing the book, saying
that the kind lady at Ellis Island had given it to
him, and he had promised to keep it. He threat-
ened the child with severe punishment if she
touched it again. "What is the book, papa?"
she asked. He said he did not know what it
was, but the lady gave it to him, and that was
enough.

The Go«p«rs The little girl kept asking about it until at
length his curiosity was aroused, and he took the
Testament to find out for himself. As he began
to read the story of Jesus he became interested,
and presently had his wife reading it also. Such
wonderful things he had never heard of before,
and he thought he would tell the priest about it,
for if the priest knew about it he would surely tell
the people. The priest forbade him to look into
the book again, saying that it was a bad book and
would cost him his soul if he read it. This only
ended the influence of the priest, for the immi-
grant said such a good person as Jesus could not
do anybody any harm, he was sure of that. He
decided to go back to Ellis Island and ask the
kind lady about it. The light came, and he and
his family are earnest members of a Christian
church, showing their gratitude by trying with

The Home Mission Opportunity 277

true missionary spirit to bring others of their
race to the Master.^

This missionary work, coming at the critical immigrant
time, needs to be extended and dignified. It
should be so enlarged that it would be possible
to reach in some way the great mass of the new-
comers, where now it touches comparatively few.
There should be a great interdenominational
headquarters building, thoroughly equipped for
every kind of helpful service. A large force of
trained workers of different nationalities should
be employed, so that all kinds of needs might be
met. It is entirely possible to establish a center
that would powerfully impress the immigrants
with the worth and importance of the Christian
religion. But no small affair will do. Our great
denominations have the money in plenty, and
certainly have the talent to organize such a work
as the world has never yet seen. And what a
chance for personal service such an institution
would afford. This would be a living object

'There are numerous instances equally remarkable. Many young
people express their desire to lead true lives and the missionaries
often learn how well the resolutions made at Ellis Island have been
kept. One missionary says: "I meet one here and another there,
who tell me that I met them first three or four years ago, when they
first reached this country, strangers to Christ as well as to me; but
now they say, ' We love to tell the story of Jesus and his love.' Some
of the denominations have houses fitted up for the temporary
entertainment of immigrants who need a safe place while waiting
to hear from friends or secure employment. This missionary work
admirably supplements the excellent service rendered by the pro-
tective organizations, of which the United Hebrews Charities is per-
haps the most influential, dispensing funds amounting to $270,000
a year, including the Baron Hirsch fund. There is also an Immi-
grant Girls' Home which saves many from temptation while they
are seeking employment, and helps them secure places in Christian
families.

278 Aliens or Americans?

Present Work
for the
Foreigners

Abandoned
Fields

lesson of Christianity helping the world, that
might fitly stand beside the statue of "Liberty en-
lightening the world."

///. Protestantism and the Alien

How are the evangelical denominations meet-
ing their imperative obligation to evangelize the
multitudes brought to their very doors? When
the immigrant has passed through the gates, what
attention is paid to him? Take it in the centers
of population, where the mass of the immigrants
go, and the showing is not very imposing as yet.

The truth is that as the foreigners have moved
into down-town New York the old-time Protes-
tant churches have moved out, in great measure
abandoning the field, on the assumption that
there was no constituency to maintain an Ameri-
can church. It did not seem to dawn upon the
rich churches which moved up town that the
new population needed evangelization and could
be evangelized. The result is that the immigrant
accustomed to imposing churches and splendid
architecture and impressive ritual, sees little to
impress him with the existence of Protestant
Christianity. Go through that teeming East
Side in New York, and here and there you will
find a mission supported in desultory fashion by
some church or city mission society or mission
board, and in quarters conducive to anything but
worship or respect. There is nothing to make

The Home Mission Opportunity 279

the new arrival feel the presence and power of
the religious faith that created this free Republic
and still predominates in its best life. So it is
wherever you go. The home mission work is in
its beginnings, and these are manifestly feeble
and inadequate.

The Roman Catholics teach us some practi- An Example
cal lessons. They build large and impres-
sive churches for the immigrants. They abandon
no fields, and immediately occupy those left by
Protestants. They expend money where it will
go furthest. The Protestants of New York
should have been far-sighted enough to plant
strong evangelistic and philanthropic institutions
in the fields from which they withdrew their
churches. Valuable ground has been lost for
want of this missionary insight and impulse.

The conditions in New York are symptomatic Need of an
of those obtaining generally, in country as well
as city. The Protestant churches, not recogniz-
ing the supreme home mission opportunity to-
Christianize the immigrants, have in many cases
become weak where a zealous evangelism would
have kept them strong. Too many of the Ameri-
can Churches have been satisfied with their own
prosperity and unmindful of the growing need
of the gospel all around them. As a missionary
worker says -.^ "There are plenty of Christians
who believe that the gospel is the power of God

• Rev. Joel S. Ives, pamphlet, "The Foreigner in New England."

28o Aliens or Americans?

unto salvation in a vague and general way ; but
there are not enough people who clearly believe
that the gospel is the power of God unto salva-
tion to the Italian working on the railroad, or the
Hungarian in the shops, or the German on the
farm. Too many of us have no faith at all in
foreign missions at home."
Reason* for It is impossible to enter into details of what
Condiuons hctn Undertaken by the different evangelical
denominations. Reference to the tables fur-
nished by various Home Mission Boards^ will
indicate, as far as bald figures can do so, the
extent of the work among the various peoples.
The statistics show that in the country, especially
in the West, missions among the earlier type
of immigrants — the German and Scandinavian —
have long been maintained with success. There
are hundreds of strong and prosperous churches
among these peoples. For the later immigrants
less has been done, although the need is far
greater. Some of the reasons for the small pro-
portions of this work are manifest. In order to
reach the Slavs and Italians there must be native
missionaries, and these cannot be found offhand.
After converts are made, those who are fitted to
preach and teach must be trained, and schools
must be provided for the training.^ The difiicul-

'Appendix C.

'Some denominations already have theological training depart-
ments for foreign people. The French-American College at
Springfield, Massachusetts, is the nrst distinctive training school
for foreigners.

The Home Mission Opportunity 281

ties of language must first be overcome. The
process requires time and patience and large re-
sources. Missions cannot be imposed upon these
foreign peoples from without. Force cannot be
used. Access must be found, and the gospel seed
be sown as opportunity occurs. There must be
a natural development in a work like this, which
deals with individuals, and that by persuasion.
The present work must not be judged too
harshly, therefore, as reflecting upon the
churches. Only of late has the need been recog-
nized by the leaders in Christian effort. Dr.
Thompson puts the situation in true light, when
he says:

"It goes without saying that the church has The Point
not so far taken its full share of the responsibility. Departure
She has not realized the gravity of the situation.
Indeed, only in late years has it emerged in its
full significance. Consequently the work of the
various Christian bodies has been sporadic, rather
than systematic and persistent. There has been
no serious endeavor to deal with it as a problem
and to try to compass it. All the Churches have
worked among the foreigners, but it has been
determined by local conditions and needs which
have appealed to Christian people here and there ;
that, however, is very different from an intelli-
gent view of the whole situation and a campaign
intended and adapted to solve the whole prob-
lem. We have reached a point in the immigra-

282

Aliens or Americans?

Success of
Earnest Effort

Tent Worlc
Results in a
Church

tion problem where it must be solved broadly,
philosophically, and by the combination of all
forces — civic, social, moral, and religious — to
bring about the healthy assimilation of all foreign
elements into the life of the body politic."*

We have said the foreigner is accessible. How
true this is, when earnest and genuine effort is
made, is shown by the tent work in many cities.
Take it among the Italians in New York, for
example. A tent worker tells the results

"New York City within a year will hold a half
million Italians. What is the Church of America
to do with them? Will they listen to the gospel?
Who has tried to reach them?
^/ "During the past summer a company of
earnest workers for God and man tested
the problem of saving men to save New
York. They started an open-air and tent
campaign. They proceeded on the simple
hypothesis that 'Nothing will elevate the man, no
matter how good he is morally, except the gospel
of Jesus Christ, for it alone is the power of God
to change the whole man and save him eternally.'
They drove their tent-stakes into the ground in
an Italian quarter and began to preach and to
sing the gospel of grace triumphant into the ears
and hearts of Roman Catholic Italians. Except
when the weather was exceptionally bad, from

' "Tlie Foreign Problem." Published by the Presbyterian Board
of Home Missions.

'Rev. F. H. Allen, in Home Missionary for January-, 1906.

The Home Mission Opportunity 283

five to six hundred persons were there nightly.
They were met just as the foreign missionary
would meet them. Not one among them, per-
haps, Christian from a purely evangelistic stand-
point, and yet, what was the result ? In less than
one year they expect to have a permanent church
building to cost $60,000 ; something like two hun-
dred are ready to enter and form a Protestant
church."

Is this a hopeful work, this effort to evangelize An ingenious

, , . r 1 r 11 ■ • Italian Exped-

the foreigners? Let the following unique in- i^^t
stance give its answer, and illustrate also the
intertwinings of the home and foreign work.
In a quarry at Monson, Massachusetts, where
over three hundred Italians are employed, there
was among the number a man who had been con-
verted in Italy, through the faithful efforts of an
American missionary. When this convert
reached the Massachusetts quarry, his heart
burned within him as he realized the spiritual
condition of his countrymen, who were living
without any religious services. He labored so
effectively for their salvation that in a few
months seventeen of the workmen were con-
verted, and they held regular meetings for prayer
and study of the Bible. At length they sent a
message, signed by every convert, to a state mis-
sionary society: "In God's name, send us a mis-
sionary." A missionary was sent to organize
them into a church. They had no meeting-place,

284 Aliens or Americans?

and in this emergency one of the converts pro-
posed that a room be built on the roof of his
cottage. This was done by the little band, and
there they worshiped until the place was too
small. Then the first story was extended in the
rear, giving space for a comfortable chapel, and
the family occupied the second story or roof-
room. This indicates the ingenuity as well as the
generous and self-sacrificing spirit of these
Italian Christians, who maintain a regular pas-
tor and full services. How many of our Ameri-
can churches, with much larger resources, could
show a better record ? What American Christian
would have thought of building a meeting-house
on his home roof, or would have been willing to
do it if he had thought of it? In devotion and
liberality the converted aliens often set noble
examples for American Christians.^

IV. The Call to Great Things

How to Save
Our Amerion

Missionaries have been surprised at the eager-
churchcs ness with which they were received by the

* Rev. C. W. Shelton reports typical cases, that could be dupli-
cated by every secretary of a Home Missionary Society and
every missionary. In one niission ehiirch a young Swede girl gave
$25 a month, out of her earnings as cook, toward the pastor's sup-
port. In a Finnish church, another yoiing woman pledged $30 a
month out a salary of $50. A Chinese mission in California supports
three native workers in China. A Slav Mission Sunday-school in
Braddock, Pennsylvania, with thirty members, gave out of its
poverty, as one year's record, $6 for home missions, $1.25 for windows
in a new Bohemian church, $1 for missionary schools, $6.35 for
maps, and $6 for a foreign missionary ship. Nearly fifty cents a
member these Slavs gave; and that amount per member from all
Christian Churches and Sunday-schools would make the missionary
treasuries much fuller than at present.

The Home Mission Opportunity 285

Italians, Bohemians, Poles, Slovaks, and Lithuan-
ians, and others commonly regarded as most
hopeless. The Bohemians have a large number
of freethinkers — over 300 societies of them — •
who have sought to draw their people away from
Christianity or any form of religion ; but they
also have a large number of earnest and devoted
Christian converts, who know the power of the
gospel to save, and are preaching and teaching it.
In Pennsylvania, among the Slav peoples, simple- Missionary
hearted native workers who have found the way station*
of life are making that way known to others,
and local churches in many places are becoming
revived through their active work for these for-
eigners. Many churches now extinct would be
alive if they had seen their opportunity. If
those churches that have lost most of their old-
time membership could be filled with missionary
zeal, and be sustained as evangelistic centers, the
church life of the mining regions would become
a different thing once more. The only way to
save these American churches is for them to save
the immigrants. The same thing is true in all
country sections where the foreigners have
become numerous. The need everywhere is for
money to plant and equip thoroughly, and main-
tain efficiently, these evangelizing churches in
every community. These institutions must be
more than meeting-houses, open a few times a
week.

286 Aliens or Americans?

A Great
Mission En-
terprise

Church Feder-
ation for
Service

The institutional church always open, with
something to meet every legitimate need of
old and young, so that the evangelical center
shall be the center of community life, can alone
meet the requirement. A great force of workers
must be raised up, and this means training
schools. No more important educational work
can be done in our country in the present emer-
gency. These schools might be interdenomina-
tional, with special classes where required for the
specific denominational training, and thus a united
Protestantism could be rallied to their support,
and make them of size sufficient to impress all
with the real consequence of the work .

In this work the interdenominational comity
and cooperation represented in the federation of
evangelical churches would secure the best cov-
ering of the whole field, in the true fraternal and
Christian spirit. What all desire supremely is the
salvation of the immigrants. And only a united
Protestantism can present such a massive front
as to impress the world. This work must be
large enough to be self-respecting. At present
it is extremely doubtful if there is enough of it
to make individual members of the churches feel
its worth and importance. There should be a
mighty advance movement, calling for millions
of money and thousands of missionaries, and
reaching into a multitude of places now destitute
of gospel influences. Then the alien in America

The Home Mission Opportunity 287

would realize the American spirit and purpose
and interest in hi|fi, and the birth of a new citi-
zenship would begin.

This is the day of large enterprises. The home
mission movement for the evangelization of the
foreign peoples in America ought to be in the
forefront of the great enterprises. The real hope
of America lies in the success of this work. The
best brain of the Christian laity should be
engaged in this business.

In New York City alone the Christian denomi-
nations ought to raise and expend at least a
million dollars a year for the next ten years
for city foreign evangelization, and this would
be only a start in a work bound to extend
indefinitely. The demand is imperative. The
fields are ripe for harvest. We have seen
that the old religious ties are not only weakened
by the Atlantic voyage, but often broken alto-
gether. In some nationalities this tie is strong,
in most of them not very binding. The great
bulk of the new immigration is Roman or Greek
Catholic. Thousands of these nominal church
members drift into open infidelity or schools of
atheism, or else into nothingism. Their former
Church does not keep them, and Protestantism
does not get them. It is a question whether their
new condition is better or worse, religiously, than
it was in the old country. We should remove
that question by surrounding them with such:

288 Aliens or Americans?

Kow to Use
Wealth for
Country

A Work
for United
Protestantisni

Qiristian influences and institutions as will make
it impossible for them to escape the Americaniz-
ing and evangelizing environment. Why should
not Christian philanthropy, for instance, build
a block of model tenement-houses in the Italian
district, and give the income from rentals as a
permanent endowment for Italian mission work?
This would be a double blessing.

There is a magnificent opportunity, an oppor-
tunity to fire the heart of the men who have
means to carry out whatever they devise. The
evangelical denominations should establish in the
heart of the East Side, where are gathered a
dozen little nationalities, not simply one great
establishment of distinctively religious and educa-
tional character, but a number of such institu-
tional churches, costing anywhere from a million
to a million and a half each, and sustained in a
thoroughly business-like way. Christianity should
permeate the entire work. We ought to be
working for to-day and for the future. The
Home Mission Boards in cooperation should be
asked to lead forward in this, the greatest task
of the twentieth century. There is nothing senti-
mental or impracticable about these suggestions.

Here is a work that demands the moral
strength of Protestant union. Let us seek
to make the foreigners Christian, give them
the Bible, and set them an example of the
brotherhood of believers. Then the immigrants

The Home Mission Opportunity 289

will become believers and join the brother-
hood.

In addition to this organized work done what the
through the missionary bodies, there is a large crn'oo*"^
work for local churches to do. In some denomi-
nations, which report little organized effort, there
is much mission work done by local parishes.
And in all denominations there are many
churches that study their community and
apply themselves to its needs. The Chinese Sun-
day-school work has been chiefly done by the
local churches, and therefore it is not easy to
learn the extent of the work, since reports are not
made to central boards. This form of service is
especially desirable when it draws the members
of the churches to any extent into personal con-
tact with the foreign element, and it should be
fostered.

This brings us to the heart of the whole matter what vou
— the personal equation. The trouble is that the °°
alien and the American do not know each other.
Aversion on the one side is met by suspicion on
the other. Shut away from intercourse, the alien
becomes more alienated, and the American more
opinionated, with results that may easily breed
trouble. The antidote for prejudice is knowl-
edge. Immigration has made it possible — and in
this case possibility is duty — for the consecrated

V. The Individual Duty

290

Aliens or Americans?

Christian, in this day and land of marvelous op-
portunity, to be a missionary — not by proxy but
in person.

Be a Home Here is the foreigner in every community.

Missionary you meet him in a hundred places where
the personal contact is possible. Did it ever
occur to you that you could do something
directly for the evangelization of the Greek or
Italian fruit vender or bootblack or laborer?
Have you ever felt any responsibility for the sal-
vation of these commonly despised foreigners?
Have you laughed at them, or shown your con-
tempt and dislike for them as they have crowded
the public places? The evangelization of the
foreigners in America must be effected by the
direct missionary effort of the masses of
American Christians. That is the founda-
tion truth. The work cannot be delegated
to Home Mission Boards or any other agencies,
no matter how good and strong In their
place.

A Personal Hcncc, let all cmphasis be put here upon
Service personal responsibility and opportunity. Be a
missionary yourself. Reach and teach some
one of these newcomers, and you will do your
part. Do not begin with talking about religion.
Make the chance to get acquainted ; then
after you have shown genuine human inter-
est, and won confidence, the way will be open for
the gospel that has already been felt in human

The Home Mission Opportunity 291

helpfulness. As a result of this study, which has
taught you to discriminate and to be charitable
to all peoples, the new attitude and sympathy will
enable you to approach those who have been
brought within your sphere of influence. There
is a field of magnificent breadth open to our
young people. Once engaged in this personal
service, and aware of its blessed effects, there
will be no lack of a missionary zeal that will
embrace the world-wide kingdom.

At a conference in New York, in the Home a shining
Mission study class a young colored man from pe'g'^na' "
the West Indies gave a practical illustration of Effort
individual missionary effort of the kind that
would evangelize the foreigners, if it were gener-
ally practiced. He said that every Thursday,
when the steamer from the West Indies arrives,
he arranges his work so as to be at the wharf,
ready to welcome immigrants, especially young
people, and to advise them, if they are strangers
without settled destination. He was led to do
this by his own experience. For three years
after he came to New York, he went from church
to church without ever receiving a word of wel-
come or invitation to come again. Finally he
found a church home ; but the homesickness and
loneliness of those years made him feel that so far
as he could help it, no one else from the West
Indies should have a similar experience. So he
made himself free to speak to the young men, and

292 Aliens or Americans?

A Call for
Sacrifice

The Living
Example

always invited them to church. He had been the
means of aiding many to establish themselves,
and had saved many immigrants from being
lured away into evil. He said the place to get the
heart of the foreigner was when he first landed.
It was a simple story, told without any false
modesty. Plainly his heart was in the work. He
wzs a home missionary, doing a definite service
of importance, and setting an example that in-
spired that company. They could not help the
round of applause that followed his statement. It
was spontaneous. This is the personal touch
that must be put in some way upon the stranger
that is within our gates. If the alien can be
brought under this gracious Christian influence,
the chances are many that he will soon cease to
be alien and become Christian. Blessed is he who
makes any soul welcome to country and church.

A call to home mission service is thus pre-
sented by Dr. Goodchild, who would carry reli-
gion more fully into the settlement idea : "We
need for the solution of this problem that young
men and women who go to the great cities from
the strong churches of the smaller towns and
villages should identify themselves with mission
churches rather than to seek ease and honor in
wealthy churches where unused talent is already
congested.

We need young men and young women
to go down among these people and live

The Home Mission Opportunity 293

Christian lives in the midst of them. I do not
believe that any one should take his children there
to rear them. But young men in groups, or
young women in groups, or young couples with-
out children, who are able to earn their own liv-
ing could contribute greatly to the solution of
these problems if they would live among these
foreigners and help in the process of digestion
and assimilation. And there is nothing that can
do that work so quickly and effectually as for
Christian men and women to dwell among these
people, as Christ once left his home on high to
dwell among the sinful ones of earth. And if
there are young men and young women who are
willing to give themselves wholly to work for
these people, and will live among them, and seek
by the power of divine grace to lift them up, it
surely is very little for you and me to sustain
them while they toil."

Wherever earnest effort has been put forth,

.1 r 1 .11 Work Grow*

the progress of the work has been most encoura-
ging. As an illustration of this, when Dr. A. F.
Schauffler some twenty years ago began his
pioneer missionary work among the 25,000
Bohemians of Cleveland, he could not learn of
any fellow-laborers in the Slavic field except a
Bohemian theological student in New York, a
Bohemian Reformed Church pastor in Iowa, and
another in Texas. But in 1905 there met in Chi-
cago an Interdenominational Conference of

294 Aliens or Americans?

Slavic missionaries and pastors, and that gather-
ing comprised no less than 103 Slavic workers,
of whom sixty-four were pastors and preachers,
fourteen women missionaries, and twenty-five
missionary students ; while the conference repre-
sented forty-nine churches in thirteen states, and
five evangelical denominations. Mr. Ives says
truly: "It has been forever established that for-
eigners are as convertible as our own people, that
in many instances their faith is more pure and
evangelical than the American type, that their
lives are transformed by its power to an extent
that sometimes puts the American Christian to
shame, that their children are easily gathered
into Sunday-schools, their young people into
Endeavor Societies, and their men and women
into prayer-meetings, where in many different
tongues they yet speak and pray in the language
of Canaan. The immigration problem is not the
same menace that it was. A mighty solvent has
been found."

D^ffi'^'Itfes There is no escaping the fact that a prodigious
amount of difficult lifting must be done in order
to elevate the aliens to the American social and
religious level. But the very vastness of the
home mission task is inspiring rather than dis-
couraging to heroic souls. As someone says,
"The American loves a tough job." Difficulties
will not hinder him a moment when once he is
moved with the divine impulse, sees the thing

The Home Mission Opportunity 295

to be done, and sets himself with God's help to do
it. Present conditions call to mind that passage
in "Alice in Wonderland," where by the seashore

The walrus and the carpenter were walking hand in
hand,

And wept like anything to see such quantities of sand.
"If seven maids with seven mops, swept it for half a
year.

Do you suppose," the walrus said, "that they could get
it clear?"

"I doubt it," said the carpenter, and shed a bitter tear.

It must be confessed that what has been done, ^ Hopeful,

, . • 1 1 i 11 Hopeless,

m comparison with what has to be done, would Task
not be unfairly represented by the seven maids,
and that some people think the conversion of the
foreigner as hopeless as the carpenter did the
sand-sweeping job. But seven mops are better
than none, and the pessimists are few. Souls are
different material to work upon from sand. By
and by the Christian denominations will stop
sweeping around the edges of this great mission-
ary enterprise, and take hold of it with full
force. This will come to pass when the real con-
ditions and needs and perils are widely known ;
and in making them known the young people
have their opportunity to render signal service
to foreigner, country. Church, and Christ.

VI. Basal Grounds for Optimism
Now that we have completed our study of "^^^ outiook
immigration, necessarily limited by time and

296 Aliens or Americans?

space, we are in position to draw some conclu-
sions with regard to the outlook. Our study
shows that there is plenty in the character and
extent of present day immigration to make the
Christian and patriot thoughtful, prayerful, and
purposeful. On the surface there is enough that
is appalling and threatening to excuse if not jus-
tify the use of the word "peril." The writer
confesses that when he lived, years ago, in west-
ern Pennsylvania, and came close to the inferior
grades of immigrants, and witnessed the changes
wrought by the displacement of the earlier day
mining class, he bordered for a time on the
pessimistic plane. Nor was his condition much
improved during residence in New England,
where the changing of the old order and the pass-
ing of the Puritan are of vast significance to our
country. But closer study of the broad subject
has led to a positively optimistic view concerning
immigration, and some of the grounds of this
optimism may properly close this chapter and
volume.

Two Great fhe basal ground is the universal tendency

Factors— , , , , . ,

Democracy toward democracy and the universal necessity
and Religion for religion. These are sufficiently axiomatic.

The appeal to the history of the nineteenth cen-
tury is sufficient to establish the first, and the
appeal to the heart of humanity will establish the
second. Democracy is the dominant spirit in the
world's life to-day. It is the vital air of America.

The Home Mission Opportunity 297

Whatever is in its nature inimical to democracy
cannot permanently endure on this continent, and
certainly cannot control, whether it be in the
sphere of ecclesiasticism or commercialism. This,
then, is the sure ground for optimism. Religion
is a necessity in a nation. What shall the type of
religion be in America ? The answer is clear, for
Protestantism is democratic, while Romanism is
autocratic.

The hope of America's evangelization is in- influence of
creased by the fact that the pure religion of Jesus Environment
Christ is so essentially democratic in its funda-
mental teachings of the brotherhood of man, of
spiritual liberty and unity. The immigrant
comes into a new environment, created alike by
civil and religious liberty, and cannot escape its
influence. Political liberty teaches the meaning
of soul liberty, and leads the way slowly but
surely to it. A man cannot come into rights
of one kind without awakening to rights of every
kind ; and once awakened, soon he insists upon
having them all for himself. Freedom is infec-
tious and contagious, and the disease is speedily
caught by the old-world arrival, who breathes in
its germs almost before the ship-motion wears
off. The peril of this is that to him the main idea
of liberty is license. The true meaning of the
word he must be taught by the Christian mis-
sionary, for certainly he will not learn it from
the Church to which he commonly belongs. Here,

298

Aliens or Americans?

then, is the opportunity for the pure gospel and
for the Christian missionary.
The Testing Adding the natural appeal of the gospel in its
simplicity to this favoring democratic environ-
ment, there is every reason for optimism con-
cerning immigration, if only American Protes-
tantism prove true to its opportunity and duty.
"Ah, but that is a tremendous IF," said a widely
known Christian worker to whom this statement
was made. "I agree with you as to the favoring
conditions, and my only doubt is whether our
Christian Churches can be brought to see their
duty and do it. So far there are only signs of
promise. Our home mission societies are doubt-
less doing all they can with the slender means fur-
nished by the contributing churches, but they
are only playing at the evangelization of these in-
pouring millions." What could be said in reply ?
One could not deny present apathy on the part
of Protestants at large, whether the cause be
ignorance or indifference or want of missionary
spirit. One could but declare faith in the pre-
vailing power of Protestantism when the crisis
comes. We believe the day is not distant when
American Protestantism will present a united
front and press forward irresistibly. For the
hastening of this day let us pray and work.
The Task of Thus the problem always resolves itself to this
the Ages j^g^ . American Protestant

Christianity the gigantic task of the ages — the

The Home Mission Opportunity 299

home-foreign-mission task — nothing less than
the assimilation of all these foreign peoples who
find a home on this continent into a common
Americanism so that they shall form a composite
American nation — Christian, united, free, and
great. What could be more glorious than to
have part in the solution of this problem? To
this supreme service, young men and women of
America, you are called of God. What say you :
shall it be Alien or American?

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER VIII

Aim : To Make Hopeful Beginnings a Strong Incen-
tive TO Great Expansion of Christian Work for
Foreigners

I. Faults on Both Sides.

I. What issues hang upon our work for the in-
coming foreigners ?

2* What barriers must be broken down in order
to approach them successfully?

3. What do these immigrants (speaking of them
m general terms) possess, and what do they
lack, spiritually?

4. Is there a lack in our own personal attitude

and feelings toward them? What is it?

5. * If you had come as an average immigrant,

what would you be likely to think of "America"
and the "Americans"?

II. Missionary Beginnings.

6. When and where is it most easy to approach
the foreigner? What will a "lurking preju-
dice" do?

300 Aliens or Americans?

7. What Qiristian workers are there at the ports
of entry? Give instances of the results of their
labors.

8. Can we possibly rest content with what is now
being done on these lines? Why not?

9. * Should all denominations unite in an effort to

meet the situation? Will you strive for it?

10. What has been the history of evangelical
churches down town in New York City? What
centers of Christian work may be found there?
What form would a more adequate provision
be likely to take?

11. Among what classes of immigrants has the
most successful Christian work been done?

12. Among what classes has it been thus far
sporadic and experimental? Give instances of
successful work for Italians.

III. Expansion Needed and Possible.

13. * Are those who are ordinarily neglected respon-

sive to the right sort of effort? How may
there be sent forth "more laborers into the
harvest" ?

14. When and how may the scattered forces be
joined for more effective work?

15. * Shall we "dare to brave the perils of an un-

precedented advance"?! Have we such faith
that God will move his people to furnish the
funds ?

rV. Local and Individual Efforts.

16. Are there many Sunday-schools for Chinese
in local churches ? Why not as many for other
needy races?

' Words used by Dr. A. L. Phillips, of Richmond. Va.. at the
Asheviile Cooference, July, 1906.

The Home Mission Opportunity 301

17. * How can every Christian be a Home Mission-

ary? Describe some example. Compare our
Lord's parable of the leaven.

18. Will the "day of small things" lead to greater?
On what conditions? Give instances.

19. * Is the task great enough to challenge our

Christian faith, courage, and perseverance?

V. A Hopeful Outlook for the Christian.

20. Is there any reason for inactivity and despair?
Why not?

21. Will Christian democracy help to solve the
problem ?

22. Where lies the element of uncertainty and how
can it be removed?

23. * Will you deliberately give yourself to be used

of God in helping to remove it?
"Immigration Means Obligation."

References for Advanced Study. — Chapter VIII

I. Study the various forms of work undertaken for
foreigners by denominational Home Mission
Boards.

Tables and statements in the appendixes of this
book.

Missionary periodicals.

Reports and papers of different Societies.

II. Investigate and report upon efforts made in your
own locality.

III. Frame an argument, or plea, for the great enlarge-
ment of all Christian activities on behalf of for-
eigners.

McLanahan : Our People of Foreign Speech, X,
XI.

APPENDIXES

303

Appendix A

305

APPENDIX A

TABLE I

NoMBKB or Immigrants Arrived in the United States each Year from 1820
TO 1905, BOTH inclusive'

Period

Number

Period

Number

Year ending September 30 —

1820

1821

1822

1823

1824

1825

1826

1827

1828

1829

1830

1831

Oct. 1. 1831, to Dec. 31, 1832
Year ending December 31 —

1833

1834

1835

1836

1837

1838

1839

1840

1841

1842

Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 1843

Year ending September 30 —

1844

1845

1846

1847

1848

1849

1850

Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 1850

Year ending December 31 —

1851

1852

1853

1854

1855

1856 ;;;;

Jan. 1 to June 30, 18S7

Year ending June 30—

1858

1859

1860

8,385

1861

9,127

1862

6.911

1863

6,354

1864

7,912

1865

10.199

1866

10,837

1867

18,875

1868

27,382

1869

22,520

1870

23,322

1871

22,633

1872

60,482

1873

1874

58,640

1875

65,365

1876

45,374

1877

76,242

1878

79,340

1879

38,914

1880

68.069

1881

84.006

1882

80,289

1883

104,565

1884

52,496

1885

1886

78,615

1887

114,371

1888

154,416

1889

234,968

1890

226,527

1891

297,024

1892

310.004

1893

59,976

1894

1895

379,466

1896

371,603

1897

368.643

1898

427.833

1899

200,877

195.8.57

^12,123

191,942

129,571

133,143

1906'

Year ending June 30 —

142,877
72,183
132,925
191,114
180,339
332,577
303,104
282,189
352,768
387,203
321,350
404.806
459,803
313,339
227,498
169,986
141,857
138.469
177,826
457,257
669,431
788,992
603,322
518,592
395,346
334,203
490,109
546,889
444,427
455,302
560,319
579,663
439,730
285.631
258,536
343,267
230,832
229.299
311,715
448,572
487,918
648,743
857,046
812,870
.026.499
,100,735

'From Annual Renort of Commissioner-General of Immigration for 1905.
•Statement from Commissioner-General F. P. Sargent.

3o6

Appendix A

T.^LE n

RACE SEX. .VXD AGE OF IMMIGR-AXTS ADltTITED Df 1905

Under

14 Uj

45 yn.

Race or people

Male

Female

Total

afid

years

jears

ever

African (bkck)

2.325

1.273

3.598

433

Z974

191

1.339

539

1.878

246

1,529

103

Bohemian and Mora^'ian.

6.662

5.095

11,757

2.620

8.442

695

Bulgarian. Serrian. and Mon-

tenegrin

5.-562

261

5,S23

5.529

197

1.S83

1.971

1,666

277

30.253

4.851

35.101

1.383

32,470

1.251

Cuban.

4.925

2.334

7.259

1.346

5,225

688

Dalmatian. Bosnian, and Her-

legovinian

2.m

150

2.639

2,450

127

Dutch and Flemish

5.693

2.805

a498

t699

6,085

714

137

145

122

FngliKh

31.965

18,900

5a865

6.956

36,726

7,183

11.907

5.105

17,012

1.483

15.047

482

6,705

4.642

1L347

1,121

8.825

1.401

49.647

32.713

82,360

11.469

64,441

6,450

Greek

11,586

558

12.144

446

11.523

175

82,076

47,834

129.910

28.553

95.964

5,393

Irish

24.610

29.626

54.266

2. 580

48.562

3,124

31.695

8.235

39.930

3.509

34.561

1.800

Italian (south)„

155.007

31.383

186.390

16.915

159.024

10.451

9.810

11.021

124

10.588

309

4.506

423

4.929

325

4.5a<

13.842

4.762

18.604

1.474

16 875

255

34,242

11,788

46.030

3.864

39,926

2.240

227

169

Pacific Islander

Polish

72.452

29.9S5

103.437

9.867

89.914

2.656

2.992

1.S63

4.855

1,035

3.3S1

439

7.244

574

7.818

153

7.293-

372

2.706

1.046

3.746

591

2,988

167

0,000

001

Scandinavian (Norwegians.

37.202

25.082

62.284

6.597

52.226

3.461

Scotch

10,472

5 672

16.144

2.270

12.109

1.765

SoTak.

3S.03S

14.330

52.368

4.5S2

4S,SS2

1,904

4.724

866

5.590

403

4,612

575

1.146

512

1.658

223

1,232

203

3 248

1.574

4.822

742

3.843

237

Turkish

2,082

Z145

2.073

1,549

982

2.531

464

1726

341

West Indian (except Oiban).

892

656

1.548

187

1.209

152

2SS

351

311

Total

724.914

301.585

1.026.499

114.668

85.5.419! 56.412

Here we have forty-four races or nationalities differentiated. Surely this if k
medley of peoples to be hannonjied. Xotc the vast proportion of working age.

Appendix A

307

TABLE III

DEBARRED IN 1905, FOR REASONS GIVEN

Race or People

African (black)

Annenian

Bohemian and Moravian

Bulgarian, Servian, and Montenegrin . . .

Chineee

Croatian and Slovenian

Cuban •.• ; • ■

Dalmatian, Bosnian, and Herzegovinian

Dutch and Flemish

East Indian

English

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Irish

Italian (north)

Italian (south)

Japanese

Korean

Lithuanian

Magyar

Mexican

Polish

Portuguese

Roumanian

Russian

Ruthenian (Russniak)

Scandinavian (Norwegians, Danes, and

Swedes)

Scotch

Slovak

Spanish

Spanish American

Syrian

Turkish

Welsh

West Indian (except Cuban)

All other peoples

Grand total 38 92

107
25
38

314
9

2G3
22
41
51
12

328
33
94

420

193

1,:
1751
169
1,578
238
4
48
427
7

444
30

388
66
186

152
77

275
66
13

124
46
12
20

195

50
8
19
74
88
4
3
7

"28
46
9
100
22
353
28
41
247
285
18
92
103
8
204
7
14
27
14

43
10

66
6
4
155
9
1

2,198

13
5
5

62
3

32
11
13
5
1
58
4

23
60
60
33
15
42
205
13

125
1

111
1

14
21
47
63

1
59

5
13

3
78
104
37
2
128

"is

41
3
144
89
48
747
70
1,534
243
158
1,290
2
1

269

363
2

991
26
47
59

115

253
75

491
23
6

200
17
8
17
74

1,164

7,776

3o8

Appendix B

309

APPENDIX B
Table of Acts of Congress Concerning Immigration

1862. Act of February 19, prohibiting building, equip-
ping, loading, or preparing any vessel licensed,
enrolled or registered in the United States for
procuring coolies from any Oriental country to
be held for service or labor.

1875. Act of March 3, providing that any person con-
tracting or attempting to contract to supply coolie
labor to another be guilty of felony. Excluding
convicts, and women imported for immoral pur-
poses, making this traffic felony.

1882. General Immigration Act of August 3; enlarg-
ing excluded list and establishing head tax.

1885. Contract Labor Act of February 26, to prevent
importation of labor under the padrone or other
similar system.

1891. Act of March 3, which codified and strengthened
the previous statutes. Excluded classes increased ;
encouraging of contract labor to emigrate by ad-
vertisements forbidden ; scope of Immigration
Bureau enlarged by establishing office of Superin-
intendent of Immigration (now Commissioner-
General), providing for return of debarred aliens,
and making decision of immigration officers as to
landing or debarment final.

1893. Act of March 3; requiring manifests and their
verification; providing boards of special inquiry;
and compelling steamship companies to post in
the offices of their agents copies of the United
States immigration laws, and to call the attention
of purchasers of tickets to them.

3IO Appendix B

1894. Act of August 18; making the decision of the
appropriate immigration officials final as to admis-
sion of aliens, unless reversed by the Secretary
of the Treasury on appeal.

1903. Immigration Restriction Act of March 3. (For
its main provisions see p. 70 of this book, foot-
note 3.)

The Principal Excluded Classes

(i) Idiots; (2) insane persons; (3) epileptics; (4)
prostitutes; (5) paupers; (6) persons likely to become
public charge; (7) professional beggars; (8) persons
afflicted with a loathsome or contagious disease; (9)
persons who have been convicted of a felony or other
crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, not
including those convicted of purely political offences;
(10) polygamists; (11) anarchists (or persons who
believe in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence
of the government of the United States or of all govern-
ment or forms of laws, or the assassination of public
officials) ; (12) those deported within a year from date
of application for admission as being under offers,
solicitation, promises or agreements to perform labor
or service of some kind therein; (13) any person whose
ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another,
or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is shown
that such person does not belong to one of the excluded
classes ; but any person in the United States may send
for a relative or friend without thereby putting the
burden of this proof upon the immigrant.

Crimes Under the Act of 1903

In order to enforce these provisions twelve violations
were made crimes, with penalties of both fine and im-
prisonment: (i) Importing any person for immoral
purposes; (2) prepaying the transportation or encoura-

Appendix B 311

ging the migration of aliens under any oflfer, solicitation,
promise or agreement, parol or special, expressed or
implied, made previous to the importation of aliens, to
perform labor in the United States; (3) encouraging
the migration of aliens by promise of employment
through advertisements in foreign countries ; (4) en-
couraging immigration on the part of owners of vessels
and transportation companies by any means other than
communications giving the sailing of vessels and terms
of transportation; (5) bringing in or attempting to
bring in any alien not duly admitted by an immigrant
inspector or not lawfully entitled to enter the United
States; (6) bringing in by any person other than rail-
way lines of any person afflicted with a loathsome or
dangerous contagious disease; (7) allowing an alien to
land from a vessel at any other time and place than that
designated by the immigration officer; (8) refusing or
neglecting to return rejected aliens to the port from
which they came or to pay their maintenance while on
land; (9) refusing or neglecting to return aliens
arrested within three years after entry as being unlaw-
fully in the United States; (10) knowingly or willfully
giving false testimony or swearing to any false state-
ment affecting the right of an alien to land is made per-
jury; (11) assisting any anarchist to enter the United
States, or conspiring to allow, procure or permit any
such person to enter; (12) failing to deliver manifests.

Laws to Protect the Immigrant

Act of 1819, providing that a vessel should not carry
more than two passengers for every five tons, and that
a specified quantity of certain provisions should be
carried for every passenger; requiring the master to
deliver sworn manifests showing age, sex, occupation,
nativity, and destination of passengers.

Act of 185s, limited number to one for every two tons,

312

Appendix B

and provided that each passenger on main and poop
decks should have sixteen feet of floor space, and on
lower decks eighteen feet.

Act of 1882, providing that in a steamship the unob-
structed spaces shall be sufficient to allow one hundred
cubic feet per passenger on main and next deck, and
120 on second deck below main deck, and forbidding
carrj'ing of passengers orL any other decks, or in any
space having vertical height less than six feet; other
provisions regulate the occupancy of berths, light and
air, ventilation, toilet rooms, food, and hospital facili-
ties. Explosives and other dangerous articles are not
to be carried, nor animals with or below passengers.
Lists of passengers are to be delivered to the boarding
officer of customs.

Act of 1884, provision that no keeper of a sailors*
boarding house or hotel, and no runner or person inter-
ested in one, could board an incoming vessel until after
it reached its dock. This to protect aliens from imposi-
tion and knavery.

Legislation Recommended in 1905 by the Commis-
sioner-General OF Immigration
I. In regard to diseased aliens : that competent med-
ical officers be located at the principal ports of embarka-
tion; that all aliens seeking passage secure as a
prerequisite from such officer a certificate of good
health, mental and physical; and that the bringing
of any alien unprovided with such certificate shall sub-
ject the vessel by which he is brought to summary fine.
2. That the penalty of $100 now prescribed for carrying
diseased persons be increased to $500, as a means of
making the transportation lines more careful. 3. Such
further legislation as will enable the government to
punish those who induce aliens to come to this country
under promise or assurance of employment. Less exact-

Appendix B

313

ing rules of evidence and a summary mode of trial are
needed to make the law effective. 4. That Congress
provide means for distributing arriving aliens who now
congregate in the large cities. 5. That as a means of
those incapable of self-support through age or feeble-
ness; those who have not brought sufficient money to
maintain them for a reasonable time in event of sick-
ness or lack of employment. 6. That adequate means be
adopted, enforced by sufficient penalties, to compel
steamship companies to observe in good faith the law
which forbids them to encourage or solicit immigration.
If other means fail, a limitation apportioning the num-
ber of passengers in direct ratio to tonnage is suggested.
7. That masters of vessels be required to furnish mani-
fests of outgoing aliens, similar to those of arriving
aliens, so that the net annual increase of alien population
may be ascertained.

In addition two special recommendations are made,
with view to control immigration and lessen the hard-
ships of the debarred: (i) To enlighten aliens as to the
provisions of our laws, so that they may not in ignor-
ance sever their home ties and sacrifice their small
possessions in an ineffectual attempt to enter the United
States. To this end the laws and regulations should
be translated into the various tongues and distributed
widely. This might not prevail as against the influence
and promises of transportation agents, but it would
relieve this country of responsibility for needless dis-
tress and suffering. (2) An international conference of
immigration experts.

314

Appendix C

APPENDIX C

Work of Leading Denominations for the Foreign

Population

The following facts and figures, received from the
leading Home Mission Boards, give some idea of the
work which is now being done for the evangelization
of the foreign peoples in the United States. We should
be glad if the reports were more complete. They do
not represent all of the work that is being done, because
a considerable part of this work is carried on by the
local churches in all of the denominafions, and this
work is seldom reported and does not enter into the
statistics of the Home Mission Boards.

It is hoped that each Board will provide a supple-
mentary chapter, setting forth in detail its work among
the foreign population — a work abounding in incident
and hopefulness. There is no more encouraging home
mission work, and wherever earnest effort has been
made, the response has been most gratifying. Write to
your Home Mission Board for full information. Where
a special chapter is not furnished for a supplemental
study, the Boards will send the information and litera-
ture that will enable the leader of the study class to
show what is being done, with a detail impossible in the
general treatment of the subject.

It is significant, in this connection, that all the Boards
are calling especial attention to the needs of this work
among the foreign peoples and urging large advance
in plans for evangelization

Appendix C

315

MISSION WORK OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN 1906
AMONG THE FOREIGN POPULATION

Nationality

Welsh 4

Swedish 135

Norwegian and Danish ... 85

German 265

French 8

Chmese 11

Japanese 30

-Q 2 S cj J2 as

sag Ejgssis

•g-Si Nationantj ;f|

E .5 ^ £

185 Bohemian and Hungarian. 11

12,076 Italian 18

4.236 Portuguese 3

19,184 Finnish 9

350 Foreign Populations 3

298

1,666 Total 582 39.557

1,666
1,014
86
93

Including the charges not now receiving missionary
aid, the total number of missions, or charges, among
the foreign peoples was 971, not including Spanish
work, and the total membership, including probationers,
was 92,082 in 1906. The work is extended all over
the country.

The Woman's Home Missionary Society supports
Immigrant Homes in New York City, and in Boston,
Mass., in which immigrants may find protection and
counsel as well as a safe lodging. In Philadelphia, Pa.,
work is also done for incoming strangers, and lodgings
provided in case of need. Missionaries are stationed
at each of these points. Much work is done for foreign-
ers by this Society through its three large city missions,
and its numerous Deaconess Homes.

3i6

Appendix C

MISSION WORK OF THE PRBSBYTERIAN HOME MISSION BOARD IN
1906 AMONG THE FOREIGN POPULATION

Nationality

Armenian

Bohemian 30

Chinese 10

Danes and Norwegians ... 1

Dutch 12

French 9

German 156

Hungarian (Magyar) 15

No. of
Churches Mem-

and ber-
Stations ship.
3 183

Nationality

Italian 32

Japanese 3

Korean 1

Russian 1

Slavic 8

Syrian 2

Welsh 7

No. of
Churches M em-
ail d ber-
Stations ship

1,529

438

101
1,365

508
13,446
1,035

• Total 290 20,415

955
50
40

337
15
414

Total 236 18,605

The Annual Report for 1906 says: In addition to the
above it is doubtless true that there are many churches,
and even individuals, carrying on religious work among
foreigners which has not been reported to the Board.
Two facts warrant special attention. One is that the
proper carrying on of the work of giving the gospel
to these foreign-speaking peoples necessarily includes
and is closely allied with other needs — such as schools;
literature in their own tongue, including tracts, papers,
and the Bible ; colporteur visitation ; Bible reading, and
so forth. It is not sufficient simply to open a church
or hall where a meeting can be held and expect the
people to come. A great deal of preparatory work must
be done.

MISSION WORK OF THE AMERIC.'LN BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOaETY
IN 1906, .\MONG THE FOREIGN POPULATION

Nationality

Bohemians - ....

Chinese

Danes

Finns

French Canadian
Germans 148

No.
jf

Field
6
12
20
13
29

Hungarians.
Italians . .
Japanese. .
Jews

25
2
2

260

Members
of Mission
Fields
196
209
484
175
650
5,196
42
391
68

7,411

Nationality

No.
of
Fields

Lettish 2

Mexicans in U. S 18

Norwegians 50

Poles 6

Portuguese 2

Russians 2

Slavs 5

Swedes 205

S>TianB 1

551

Member!

of Mission
Fields
31
113
1.095
82
42
71
77
7.623

16.545

Appendix C 317

FOREIGN PEOPLES IN BAPTIST CHURCHES, THE RESULTS OF HOME
MISSION WORK

Churches Memb'ahip

Germans. 1906 266 26.274

Dane-Norwegian. 1903 90 5.530

Swedes. 1903 331 22.625

The number of missionaries among the foreign popu-
latfons was 312. The Women's Societies maintained a
number of workers, including the efficient missionaries
at Ellis Island. The Home Mission Society is support-
ing Italian missionaries in twenty cities. Aside from
organized effort, Chinese Sunday-schools are conducted
by many local churches, which do not report to any
central organization. There is a considerable work
done also by the city mission societies, which work
independently in part. In some places, local churches
also maintain missions among the Italians, Hungarians,
and Slavs.

MISSION WORK OF THE CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONARY
SOaETY IN 1906

Total number of Hissiouaries.

215

Finnish "

Scandinavian Missions

Bohemiaa "

.. 20

Polish -

Greek. "

.. 7

STATEMENTS SHOWING NUMBER OF CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES
FOR FOREIGN SPEAKING PEOPLES, WITH THEIR
TOTAL MEMBERSHIP

Churches Members Average to a Church

Germans 170 8,000 47

Scandinavians 95 7,495 79

SUvs 12 636 58

All other Nationalities, (including
Italians, French, Greek, Arme-
nian, Chinese, Welsh, etc 102 8,222 78

379 24.353 262

3i8

Appendix C

Work of the Protestant Episcopal Church Among
THE Foreign Population

The Domestic Section of the Domestic and Foreign
Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in the United States carries on work to a Hmited extent
among the Swedes. There is a general missionary in
the East, who has charge of this work in the three
dioceses of Rhode Island, New York, and Massachu-
setts, and one in the northwest. In the eastern dioceses
named there were in 1906 fifteen Swedish missions and
parishes, with 1,897 communicants, ministered to by
five clergymen. The western general missionary visited
Sweden during the past year for the purpose of finding
suitable university students for the ministry in this
country. There are missions in Duluth and at other
points. The Annual Report says : "Of all the work
under the care of the general missionary, none is more
important than the mission to Scandinavian immigrants
arriving at Ellis Island, New York, for it acts as a
special feeder to the church. The Scandinarian immi-
grants outnumber those from any other Protestant
country."

What further work is done for the foreign peoples
is carried on by the local parishes, such as Grace
Church, Trinity, Saint George's, and Saint Bartholo-
mew's in New York, which work among the Italians
and other nationalities, and equip their missions in a
manner worthy of imitation.

Lutheran Work in the United States

Large numbers of the immigrants are Lutherans.
The resources of the Lutheran church in America to
care for her people are thus stated by the Rev. J. N.
Lenker, D.D., in the Lutheran World, the church organ:

Appendix C

319

For the Germans, 5,000 pastors, 8,000 churches, and
1,200,000 communicant members.

For the Scandinavians, 1,800 pastors, 14,300 churches,
and 500,000 communicant members.

For the Finns, three synods, 58 pastors, 187 churches,
and 22,149 communicant members.

For the Slovaks, about 200 organizations with a grow-
ing number of pastors and a very loyal constituency.

For the Letts and Esthonians, 21 organized congre-
gations and preaching stations, divided into the eastern
and western districts.

For the Icelanders, one synod, 10 pastors, 37 or-
ganized congregations, 3,785 communicant members.

For the Poles, Bohemians, and Magyars, work is done
by the various German synods, the late statistics of
which are not at hand. Besides congregations in these
languages, many understand German and are served
by German pastors.

The whole Lutheran Church of America, including
the Swedish Mission Friends with 33,000 members and
the German Evangelical Synod with 222,000 members,
the constituents of which are nearly all Lutherans,
making in all 8,956 pastors, 15,135 churches, and 2,123,-
639 communicant members are the results of immigrant
mission work or mission work in foreign languages or
languages other than English.

ANALYSIS OF THE IMMIGRATION FOR 1905. WITH REGARD TO REU-
GIOUS AFFILIATIONS AND EASE OF ASSISIILATION i
First class and the easiest to assimilate are

English 50,865 Reformed

Scotch 16,144 Reformed

Germans 82,360 Luth. and Cath.

Scandinavians 62,284 Lutheran

Iriah 54,266 Catholic.

Finns 17,012 Lutheran

Letts, etal 18,604 Lutheran

Slovaks 52,368 Lutheran

Total 353,903

'From the Lutheran World.

320

Appendix C

Second chas and the second easiest to assimilate :

Magyars 46,030 Rcf. and Cath.

Bohemians, etc 11,7.57 Ref. and Cath.

French 11.021 Ref and Cath.

Ruthenians 14,473 Catholic

Total 83,281

Third data and the most difficult to evangelize and Americanize and the clata
that makes the new problem difScult:

Poles 102,137 Catholic

Italians 226,320 Catholic

Hebrews 129,910 Israelites

Total.

458,307

Appendix D 321

APPENDIX D
Bibliography

Bernheimer, Charles S., Editor. The Russian Jew in
the United States. B. F. Buck & Co., New York
$1.50. Written mostly by Jews ; replete with facts
gathered in the various centers — New York,
Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston. Should be read
by those who would understand this remarkable
people.

Brandenburg, Broughton. Imported Americans. F. A.
Stokes, New York. $1.60. Description of experi-
ences while making personal investigations in
New York, Italy, and the steerage, of immigration
problems.

Crowell, Katherine R. Coming Americans. Willett
Press, New York. Paper, 25 cents ; Cloth, 35
cents. A book for Juniors, putting in attractive
form for children and teachers of children the
leading features of immigration.

Gordon, W. Evans. The Alien Immigrant. Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.50. Describes
the Hebrews in European countries, with chapter
on situation in the United States.

Hall, Prescott F. Immigration. Henry Holt & Co.,
New York. $1.50. The latest volume of compre-
hensive character, taking the restrictive position.
The author is secretary of the Immigration Re-
striction League.

Holt, Hamilton. Undistinguished Americans. James
Pott & Co., New York. $1.50. Biographical and
readable.

322 Appendix D

Lord, Eliot, et al. The Italian in America. B. F. Buck
& Co., New York. $1.50. Makes an exceedingly-
favorable showing for the Italians; somewhat
one-sided but valuable.

Mayo-Smith, Richmond. Emigration and Immigra-
tion. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
$1.50. An exceedingly valuable and scholarly
work.

McLanahan, Samuel. Our People of Foreign Speech.
Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. 50
cents, net. A handbook containing many valuable
facts in compact form.

Riis, Jacob. How the Other Half Lives. Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.25, net. Descrip-
tive of the conditions in which the foreign popu-
lation struggles for existence.

Roberts, Peter. Anthracite Coal Communities. The
Macmillan Company, New York. $3.50. A study
of the anthracite regions and the Slavs, similar
in character to Dr. Warne's book.

Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Doubleday, Page & Co.,
New York. $1.50. A work based on personal
investigation and living among the Slavs who
labor in the stockyards in Chicago; vivid narra-
tive. This book discloses the treatment of the
alien that makes him a menace to America.

Strong, Josiah. Our Country. Baker & Taylor Com-
pany, New York. 60 cents. The points made in
the chapter on Immigration are as pertinent
now as when the book was issued in 1881.

Strong, Josiah. The Twentieth Century City. Baker
& Taylor Company, New York. Paper, 25 cents;
Cloth, 50 cents. Has the breadth of view and
effectiveness which belong to the author.

Appendix D 323

Warne, F. Julian. The Slav Invasion. J. B. Lippin-
cott Co., Philadelphia, Pa. $1.00, net. Study
at first hand of conditions in Pennsylvania mining
regions and the Slav population.

Whelpley, J. D. The Problem of the Immigrant.
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $4.20.
Dealing with the emigration and immigration
laws of all nations.

Wood, Robert A. Americans in Process. Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.50. A series
of papers by Robert A. Wood, and other workers
in the South End House in Boston, Mass.

INDEX

326

INDEX

Abuses, of immigration
privileges and laws, 42,
43, 63-69, 78-84, 92, 93

Adams, Representative, of
Pennsylvania, 74, 97

Admission, see immigrants

Africans, 124

Alabama, 113

Albany, New York, 22

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 3

Alien, admission, 53-64 ; ad-
vance in numbers and
distribution, 15-50, 102-
117; characterized, 236,
237, 258; ideas imported,
241 ; loss of religious
faith, 271 ; opinion of
America, 272 ; protection,
65-68; restriction, 68-84

Aliens, classes excluded,
77, 78 ; total since Ameri-
can Revolution, 28

America, duty to guard its
own genius, 232; mission,

10, 269; must be kept
Christian, 271 ; unique
mission field, 269

American, Christians, duty
of, 10, II, 44-47; fair play,
73 ; ideals to be preserved,

11, 46, 47, 91, 238, 239,
262 ; institutions, 232, 261 ;
liberty, 117; Protestant-
ism, 16, 47, 254, 25s, 288;
teacher in Syria, 39;

Tract Society, 50; type of
nationality, 11, 45, 46, 92,
238, 240

Americanization of immi-
grants, 10, 14, 46, 113, 126,
176, 242 ; children pro-
moting, 205, 223, 259, 260

Anderson, Herbert, 268

Antwerp, 99

Appeal, right of, by ex-
cluded, 77, 78

Ardan, Ivan, 181, 182

Armenians, 124

Asia, immigrants from, 20,
21, 113

Assimilation of foreign
peoples, 270, 271 ; aid to,

293

Assisted immigration, 43,

77, 93. loi
Associated Charities of

Boston, 96
Atchison. Rena M., 194, 247
Attila, 27

Australians, as immigrants,
22

Austria, 81, 82
Austria-Hungary, 92, 165 ;

immigrants from, 21, 25,

Baldwin, Mrs. S. L., 72, 73
Baltimore, 53
Barrows, Dr. S. J., 142
Battery, the, S4, 62, 108

327

328

Index

Belgians, as immigrants, 21
Belgium, 29
Berlin, 199

Betts, Mrs. Lillian W., 151,

152, 204
Bible, 34, 167, 174, 283, 288
"Birds of passage," 71, 135
Blackwell's Island, 139
Board of Special Inquiry, 62
Bohemians, as immigrants,
21, 165-170; city centers,
166; freethinking tenden-
cies, 168, 169; Protestant
in spirit, 165-168; reli-
gious work among, 285
Booth, General William, 194
Bosnians, 183

Boston, 24, 53, 83, 198 ; Ital-
ian Society, iii

Boyesen, Professor, 28, 89,
90, 234

Brandenburg, Broughton,

41, 65-68, 82, 97, 98, 101
Bremen, 82, 99
Brooklyn, 148
Brooks, Phillips, 232
Bryce, James, 200
Buffalo, 172

Bulgarians, as immigrants,
21, 183

Bureau of Information, no
Burlington, Iowa, 20

Calvin, 172

Cambridge, Massachusetts,
24

Canada, 27; mgress from,

53, 77, 92
Canadians, as immigrants,

Carr, Mr. 138
Carroll, Dr. H. K., 174
Castle Garden, 28
Celtic peoples, 123
Chandler, ex-Senator, 214

Chattanooga, Immigration

Bureau in, 113
Chicago, 36, 166-172, 176,

187, 198
Childhood, the blighting of,

225, 226
Children, condition of, in

great cities, 221, 222;

number of, at work, 224,

226

Chinese, as immigrants, 21,
40, 72, 73 ; converts, 73,
89, 269 ; exclusion act, 70,
73 ; Sunday-schools for,
289

Chivers, Dr. E. E., 267

Chopin, 172

Christ, 44, 277

Christian attitude toward
immigrants, 44-47, 270;
cooperation and federa-
tion, 286; optimism, 8,
117, 262

Christianity, converts to,
73 ; its first impression
for newcomers, 277, 278

Churches, duty and oppor-
tunity of, 270, 282, 286;
abandoning lower New
York, 278; must be mis-
sionary, 270 ; saving
themselves through sav-
ing immigrants, 285 ;
work for foreigners, 289

Cincinnati, 23

Citizenship, how degraded,
214

City, the, bad government
of, 200; conditions of ten-
ement-house life in, 201,
210; demoralizing influ-
ences, 209, 214; environ-
ment offered immigrants,
196, 201-206; foreigniza-
tion of, 198, 199, 217; iso-

Index

329

lation of foreigners in,
205 ; nerve and storm
center, 193 ; overcrowd-
ing, 203, 206; political
evils, 214
City College, many Jewish

pupils in, 189
Civil War, effect on immi-
gration, 26, 31
Claghorn, Kate H., 97, 259
Cleveland, Ohio, 24, 166,

169, 172
Cleveland, President, 96
Colonies, foreign, in Amer-
ica, 196, 198, 200, 217
Colonists distinguished from

immigrants, 45, 46
Columbia University, 13
Columbus, Christopher, 188
Commissioner-General of
Immigration, 25, 76-78,
83, 92, 93 ; of the Port, 77
Coney Island, 150
Congestion of foreign ele-
ments in cities, 195
Congress, acts of, 70
Connecticut, 173, 174, 180
Consumption, statistics of,
220 ; foreign element
largely its victims, 220
Contract labor exclusion,
77, 82, 92; violation, 82,
83

Convicts, excluded, 77

Cook, Joseph, 52

Coolies, Chinese, excluded.

Cooperation, interdenomi-
national, 286 ; of Home
Mission Boards, 288

Copernicus, 172

Crime, conditions favorable
to increase of, 209, 224 ;
foreigners led into by en-

vironment and example,
209

Croatians, 124, 183
Czechs, see Bohemians

Dalmatians, as immigrants,
183

Danes, as immigrants, 21
Debarred, see Excluded
Democracy, influence of

upon aliens, 296, 298
Denmark, immigrants from,

Detroit, 21, 172

Discrimination needed as to
immigrants, 127

Diseases guarded against,
57, 59, 60, 74, 77, 78, 93

Distribution of immigrants,
102-117; New York state,
105, 107; New Zealand
methods, 116; North At-
lantic section, 105 ; Ohio,
107 ; Pennsylvania, 105,
107; railroads assisting,
116; societies aiding, 107-
113; South Central states,
105 ; West Virginia, 107 ;
Western section, 105

Dublin, 199

Dutch, as immigrants, 21

Eastern invasion, the, 157-
192

Edison, Thomas A., 247
Educational policy affected

by immigration, 246
Ellis Island, 18, 19, 35, 37,
54. 55, 59-62, 74, 83, 99,
100, 108; missionary
workers at, 274 ; results
of personal efforts at, 275
Emerson, Ralph W., 247
English, as immigrants, 19,
21, 126; language, influ-

330

Index

ence of, 259, 260

Environment, evil effects of
upon children, 243

Europe, American ideas
working in, 33, 34; immi-
grants from, 20, 23, 98,
123-192

Evangelization of immi-
grants, 10, 16, 46, 47 ; ac-
cessibility, 294; illustra-
tion of, 283 ; most potent
factor in Americanizing,
270; need for extension
of, 277; personal respon-
sibility for, 290; sporadic,
not systematic, 281

Evasion of immigration
laws, 78-83

Excluded classes, 74-78,
100, lai

Federation of Jewish Chari-
ties, 102

Financial panics, effect on
immigration, 26, 31

Finns, as immigrants, 21

Fiume, 82, 99

Forbes, James, 139

Foreign-born, distribution
of, 107

Four State Immigration

League, 113
France, 34

Franklin, Benjamin, 69
Freethinkers, their societies

among immigrants, 168,

169, 180, 285
French-American College,

the, 280
French, as immigrants, 21
French-Canadians, Roman

Catholic convention of,

257

Fung Yuet Mow, 269

Gardner, Representative, of

Massachusetts, 95
Genoa, 99, 132
Germans, as immigrants,

19, 21, 35, 126
Germany, immigrants from,

25. 33. 81
Goodchild, Rev. F. M., 33,

292

Grant, Ulysses S., 247
Great Britain, immigrants

from, 25, 43, 128
Greece, 92

Greek Catholic Church, 182,
184; Orthodox or Rus-
sian State Church, 182

Greeks, as immigrants, 21,
37, 41

Hall, Prescott F., 45, 70,
129

Hamburg, 82, 99
Havre, 99

Hebrew, see Jewish, Jews

Herzegovinians, as immi-
grants, 183

Hewes, F. W., 107

Home Missions, at Ellis Is-
land. 274; demand for
extension of in New
York, 287 ; opportunities
of, for local churches,
279; personal work, 274,
290, 291 ; results of
abroad, 269 ; settlement
influences by residence,
292, 293

Honolulu, 53

Huguenot colonial stock,
240

Hungarians, as immigrants,
33, 128, 177-179; cafes, as
social centers, 178, 179;
fair degree of education,

Index

331

177; open to mission

work, 178
Hungary, 19, 128
Huns, 27, 165
Hunter, Robert, 194, 200
Huss, John, 166, 170

Iberic peoples, 123
Idiots, excluded, 77, 78
Illiteracy, amount of among
immigrants, 22, 24, 125;
test proposed, 95, 96
Immigrants, admission, 53-
64; "assisted," 43, 93;
approachable, 273, 282 ; at-
tracted to the city, 195 ;
debarred, 70, 71, 77, 78;
diseased, 57, 60, 74, 77, 78,
93, 94; illiteracy among,
22, 23, see also Illiteracy;
"manifest," 55, 56, 61 ;
nationality, 21, 22; "natu-
ral," 31-42; ports and
routes of entry, 53, 77 ;
"solicited," 42, 43, 80-82,
93; smuggling of, 8i, 92;
religious census and con-
ditions, 251, 271 ; value of
first impression upon,
273; views of America,
272 ; women among, 18,
61, 76

Immigration, annual vol-
ume, 17-22; Bureau of, 76,
77, 92, 104 ; causes of, 29-
31; Christian view of, 8;
classes, 31-43; Conference
of 1905, 90, 91 ; divine
mission in, 270; economic
fallacies of, 245 ; effect
upon educational policy,
246 ; inspectors and offi-
cers, 59-61, 76, 77; laws,
see Laws, immigration;
new development of, 121-

155; numbers since 1820,
25-27; process by the
steerage and Ellis Island
described, 55-62 ; Restrict-
ive League, 96; "runner,"
80-82; steamship and rail-
road arrangements, 55,
57, 62

Indianapolis, 22

Indians, North American,
45

Industrial Commission, 31
Insane, excluded, 77, 78
Insanity, low proportion

among Italians and Jews,

140

Institutional church, need
of, 286, 288

Ireland, 27, 43, immigrants
from, 25, 31, 72, 128; po-
tato famine, 25

Irish, as immigrants, 19, 21,
38, 39, 89, 126; compared
with the Italians, 136, 137

Italian, Benevolent Insti-
tute, 147; Chamber of
Commerce, 145 ; Hospital,
147; Immigration Depart-
ment, 138 ; Savings Bank,

Italians, as immigrants, 19,
34. 36, 37, no, 130; dis-
tribution, 135, 136; family
cooperation, 207 ; gener-
ally peaceable character,
141, 142, 208; illiteracy,
22, 134; in New York,
I39> 145, 206; number en-
tering, 19, 134, 135; par-
allel drawn with Irish,
136, 137 ; societies for
mutual aid, 50, no, 145,
147; spirit of converts,
284; thrift, 139-147, 207;
women homemakers, 206

332

Index

Italy, 92, 131-133; govern-
ment action and aid, 79,
iii; immigrants from,
25, 31, 72, 79, 107; Royal
Department of Emigra-
tion, III; sections com-
pared, 131-134

Ives, Mr., 294

Japanese, as immigrants, 40 ;

Robinson Crusoe, 40
Jefferson, President, 68
Jerome of Prague, 166
Jersey City, 22
Jewish children as pupils,

189

Jews, as immigrants, 21, 95,
96, 113, 128, 185-190;
Austria-Hungarian, 21,
186; German, 185; good
qualities, 190; number of
in New York, 186, 198;
Roumanian, 186; Russian,
II, 12, 21, 185-190

John G. Carlisle, ferryboat,
53

Joseph II, Emperor, of
Austria, 167

Juvenile Court, Jewish chil-
dren in, 190

Kansas City, 22
Kosciusko, 172
Kossuth, a Slovak, 175

Labor, immigration of
skilled and unskilled, 23,
24

Latin races, as immigrants,

113, 131
Lawrence, Kansas, 20
Laws, immigration, 58, 64;

Bill of 1906, 95 ; problems,

87-119; protective, 65-68;

restrictive, 68-84 ; summa-

ries and recommenda-
tions, 309-313
Lee, Dr. S. H., 136, 152
Legislation, see Laws, im-
migration
Letts, the, as immigrants,

179, 180
Liberty, American, as a
working leaven, 33, 34;
statue of. 57, 278
Lieber, Francis, 194
Lincoln, Abraham, 247
Lithuanians, as immigrants,
23, 36, 179, 180; illiteracy,
23

Liverpool, 99
Lodge, Senator, 96
London. 99

Long Island, as a field for

Italians, 149
Longfellow, 247
Louisiana, 113
Louisville, 23
Luther, 172

Lynn, Massachusetts, 24

Machinery, effect on immi-
gration, 43

Madison, President, 68

Mafia, the, 130, 141

Magna Charta, 34

Magyars, as immgrants,
21, 177-179 ;illiteracy, 23;
see also Hungarians

"Manifest" for immigrant,
55. 56, 61

Marine Hospital Service,
59

Marseilles. 99
Mashek, Nan, 166
Massachusetts. 142, 173
Mayo-Smith, Richmond, 52,

231, 238. 248
McLanahan, Samuel, 121
McMillan, Margaret, 225

Index

333

Mexicans, as immigrants,

Mexico, ingress through, 92,
93

Michigan, 172

Milwaukee, 170, 172

Minneapolis, 21

Mission workers for immi-
grants, 274

Mississippi, 113, 183

Mitchell, Max, 102

Mongolic peoples, 124

Montenegrins, as immi-
grants, 21, 183

Moravians, as immigrants,
164

Music, love of by Bohemi-
ans, 169; by Italians, 144

Naples, 99, 199

National Civic Federation,
90; Slavonic Society, 176

Naturalization, illegal meth-
ods, 93, 196, 214-215;
reading test desirable, 249

New Amsterdam, 45

New England, 45, 148, 173,
179; how it can remain
Christian, 270, 271

New Haven, 23

New Jersey, 148, 173, 178

New Orleans, 183

New York, Bible Society,
50 ; State, 69, 70, 105, 107,
178, 213

New York City, 30-39, 53,
54, 62, 63, no, 112, 139,
14s, 165, 166, 169, 172,
176-189, 198, 200, 220;
chief port of entry for
immigrants, 53; child life
and labor in, 220, 221 ;
consumption in, 220;
cosmopolitan character,
198, 199; foreign peoples

in, 139, 145, 150, 166, 172,
178, 179, 186-189, 195-226
Norway, 27 ; immigrants
from, 23, 25, 126

Occupations, of various

races, 23, 24
Odessa, 99

Ogg, Frederick A., 92, 93,

99, 100
Ohio, 172

Optimism, 8, 29, 262
Ottawa, Illinois, 20

Padrones, 82, 92, in

Parochial schools among
aliens, 246, 256

Pauperism in the United
States, 218; contrasted
with poverty, 217; for-
eign percentage of, 219;
increased by immigra-
tion, 219

Pennsylvania, 160-163, 172,

175, 177, 179, 181, 183, 213
People's Forum in Cooper

Institute, 250

Persecution, affecting im-
migration, 29, 30, 91

Philadelphia, 38, 53, 172,

176, 179, 187
Pittsburg, 82, 172, 174, 176
Poles, as immigrants, 22,

35. 75. 76, 170-174; clan-
nish, 173; illiteracy, 22,
173; independence, 173

Polish, Catholics, 174; girl,
story of, 212 ; Jew,
"sweater," 210; National
Alliance, 170

Ports, for examination
abroad, 98, 99; of entry,
53

334

Index

Portsmouth, New Hamp-
shire, 20
Poughkeepsie, New York,

Poverty in tlie United
States, 2i8; defined, 217

Presbyterian Slavistic Un-
ion. 176

Protestantism, as related
to immigrants, 9, 39, 47,
202, 166-174, 177-188, 216,
224, 251 ; could change
conditions as to child
labor, 225, 226; ought to
save immigrants from
moral degeneracy, 255 ;
vast opportunity to evan-
gelize and Americanize,
267-299

Providence, Rhode Island,
21

Public Schools, attacks
upon to be resisted, 248;
duty to elevate, 248; for-
eign children in, 198, 223,
248 ; power to American-
ize, 234, 248, 256

Publicity, value of, 83, 90

Quarantine, 56, 62

Railroads and immigrants,
62, 63

Reich, Emil, 131

Religious census of immi-
grants in 1900, 251

Removal Bureau, for di-
recting Jewish emigrants,
III

Reports, Commissioner-
General, 25, 143

Riis, Jacob, 194, 216

Roman Catholic Church, as
related to immigrants,
133. 151. 152, 167, 168,

172-174. 177-184. 247, 248,
251. 256, 257, 271, 297;
efforts to get public
money for parochial
schools, 246; some les-
sons to be learned from,
279

Roosevelt, President, 51,
73. 88, 92. 96. 179

Rossi, Adolpho, 138, 147

Rotterdam, 99

Roumanians, as immi-
grants, 19, 21 ; see also
Jcivs

Rovinanek, Mr., 174, 175
Russia, 34, 128; immigrants

from, 25. 81, 217
Russian empire, 19; Jews,

II, 19, 112; persecution,

29. 30

Saint Louis, 145, 198
Saint Nazairc, 99
Saloon, evil effects of, 216,
217

Sampson, Sidney, 260
San Francisco, 41, 53, 73,
148

Saratoga Springs, New
York, 20

Sargent, Commissioner-
General, 28. 103. 158, 203

Scandinavians, 27; agricul-
tural tendency, 127; use-
ful immigrants, 19, 21,
126, 217; small illiteracy,
23

Schauffier, Dr. A. F., 30,

195. 293
Scotch, as immigrants, 21,

126; small illiteracy, 23
Scotland, 27

Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, 77, 78

Index

335

Seelye, ex-President of

Amherst, 255
Servian immigrants, 21
Settlement service by reli-
gion and residence, 292,
293

Sioux Falls, Iowa, 20

Slavic home missionaries,
293, 294; peoples, 124

Slavs, as immigrants, 21,
79, 107, 113, 127, 128, 157-
192; defined, 159, 160;
displacing other peoples,
160, 162; illiteracy, 23, 164 ;
largely unskilled, 164;
migration of recent date,
160; mostly mine and fac-
tory workers, 164 ; native
workers among, 285

Slovaks, as immigrants,
174-176; from agricul-
tural class, 17s ; organi-
zations among, 176; tin-
ware workers, 176

Slovenians, as immigrants,

Slums, peril of the children
in, 220-224 ; poverty and
pauperism of, 217-219

Socialism, bred in the
slums, 202

Societies in aid of immi-
grants by races, no- 112

Society for Italian immi-
grants, 50, no. III

Solicitation, as affecting
immigration, 42, 43, 80-
82, 93

South American immi-
grants, 21

South Carolina, 1 13

South, the New, as a field
for immigrants, 113

Southampton, 99

Spahr, Dr. Charles B., 260

Spanish immigrants, 21,

217

Special Inquiry Board, 77
Speranza, Gino C, 88, 145
"Stairs of Separation," 62,
63

Standards of living, low-
ered through immigra-
tion, 244

States and countries as a
scale of immigration, 24,
25, 27, 28

Statistics of immigration,
aliens since Revolution,
28; arrivals by years
from 1820 to 1905, 305 ;
child labor in New York
City, and in United States,
226, 227; countries by to-
tals, 127-129; debarred
during fourteen years,
and by race or people, 77,
303 ; distribution by
states, 105-107; entries at
ports and through Can-
ada, 53; estimated immi-
gration for 1905-6, 20 ;
illiteracy, 21-23, 134, 164;
increase of immigrants
for 1905, 25; inflow since
1820, 25-27 ; insanity,
140; Italians, by years,
locality, and occupation,
134, 135, 143 ; Jews, chiefly
Russian, 185, 186, 198;
labor skilled and un-
skilled, 23, 24, 134, 164;
mendicancy, 140; money
sent from United States
to aid immigrants, 31 ;
present annual race totals
illustrated, 20-23 ; race,
sex, and age of immi-
grants for 1905, 306; reli-
gious divisions for 1900,

336

Index

251; savings and invest-
ments of Italians, 145,
146; Slavs for 1905, 159,
see also, for distribution
and occupation, 165-183;
tendency among Italians
to forsake Roman Catho-
lic Church, 271

Steamships for immigrants,
55. 57; overcrowding, 65;
rate cutting, 79; steerage
abuses and reforms, 65-
68 ; unkind treatment, 57,
58, 67; unsanitary ar-
rangements, 65-67; viola-
tion of laws, 78-84

Stettin, 99

Strong, Dr. Josiah, 9-16,
193, 194, 256, 257

Sunday laws and observ-
ance, as affected by immi-
gration, 72, 237, 241, 252-
254; Sunday-schools,
among immigrants, 284,
294

Sweat-shop, description of
system, 209, 210 ; reproach
to Christian civilization,
210; victims of, 210-213

Sweden, 27 ; immigrants
from, 23, 25, 33, 37, 38,
126

Swiss, as immigrants, 21,
28

Switzerland, 27, 43
Syrian immigrants, 23, 39

Tarifif, effect on immigra-
tion, 44

Temperance, large measure
of, among Chinese, Ital-
ians, and Jews, 73, 141,
190

Tenement-houses, descrip-
tion of life in, 204-208;

evils 01, 201 ; exorbitant
rents, 202; model block
of suggested, 288; re-
sponsibility of landlords,
202 ; unsanitary condi-
tions of, 211

Tent campaign, winning
Italians, 282

Teutonic peoples, 123

Texas, 113

Thompson, Dr. Charles L.,

117, 268
Training schools, needed in

work among aliens, 286
Trieste, 99
Tuoti, Mr. G., 145
Turks, as immigrants, 21 ;

illiteracy, 23
Tymkevich, Paul, 158

United Hebrew Charities,

111, 219, 277

United Kingdom, see Great
Britain

United States, agencies of
helpful to immigrants,
50, 54, 57-63, III, 274;
■'assisted" immigration
to, 43, 93 ; attraction of,
29-42 ; Immigration In-
vestigating Commission,

112, 113; Industrial Com-
mission on Immigration,
141 ; legislation as to im-
migrants, see Laws, im-
migration; money from
relatives in, to aid immi-
grants, 31 ; national
songs, 34; Post-office, an
immigration agency, 33 ;
see also Commissioner-
General of Immigration,
Ports of entry

Venice, 199

Index

337

Vincennes, Indiana, 20

Virginia, 45, 175

Vote, foreign, peril of, 249

Walker, General Francis

A., 232
Ward, Robert D., 194
Warne, F. J., 157, 158, 162,

246

Warsaw, 199

Washington, city of, 24;

President, 68
Watchorn, Commissioner

Robert, 30, 82
Welsh, as immigrants, 21,

126

Whelpley, J. D., 16, 70, 79,
94, lOi

Wisconsin, 167

Women immigrants, 18, 35,
38, 39, 57, 61, 67, 75, 76,
304 ; special inspection
for, 61, 76

Work of leading denomina-
tions for foreign popula-
tion, 314-320

Yiddish language, 198
Young people, as creators
of public sentiment, 197;
opportunity of for Chris-
tian service, 10

Ziska, General, 166

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The Forward Mission Study Courses are an outgrowth
of a conference of leaders in Young People's Mission
Work, held in New York City, December, 1901. To
meet the need that was manifested at that conference
for Mission Study Text-books [suitable for young
people, two of the delegates. Professor Amos R. Wells,
of the United Society of Christian Endeavor, and Mr. S.
Earl Taylor, Chairman of the General Missionary Com-
mittee of the Epworth League, projected the Forward
Mission Study Courses. These courses have been
officially adopted by the Young People's Missionary
Movement, and are now under the immediate direction
of the Executive Committee of the Movement, which
consists of the young people's secretaries, or other
official representatives of twelve of the leading mis-
sionary boards of the United States and Canada.

The aim is to publish a series of text-books covering
the various home and foreign mission fields, and written
by leading authorities with special reference to the
needs of young people. The entire series when com-
pleted will comprise perhaps as many as twenty text-

books. A general account will be given of some of the

smaller countries, such as Japan, Korea, and Turkey;
but, for the larger fields, as China, Africa, and India,
the general account will be supplemented by a series of
biographies of the principal missionaries connected with
the country. The various home mission fields will also
be treated both biographically and historically.

The following text-books have been published: —

' I. The Price of Africa. (Biographical.) By S. Earl
Taylor.

2. into All the World, A General Survey of Missions.
By Amos R. Wells.

3. Princely Men in the Heavenly Kingdom. (Biographical.)
By Harlan P. Beach, M.A., F.R.G.S.

4. Child Life in Mission Lands. A Course of Study for
Junior Societies. By Ralph E. Diffendorfer.

5. Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom. A Study of Japan.
By the Rev. John H. De Forest, D. D.

6. Heroes of the Cross in America. Home Missions. (Bio-
gr>»:;t)hical.) By Don O. Shelton.

"^7. Daybreak in the Dark Continent. A Study of Africa.
By Wilson S. Naylor.

8. The Christian Conquest of India. A Study of India.
By Bishop James M. Thoburn.

' 9. Aliens or Americans? A Study of Immigration. By
Rev. Howard B. Grose, Ph. D.

These books are published by mutual arrangement
among the denominational publishing houses, to whom
all orders should be addressed. They are bound uni-
formly, and are sold for 50 cents, in cloth, and 35 cents,
in paper, postage extra.

Study classes desiring more advanced text-books are
referred to the admirable series published by the Inter-

denominational Committee of the Woman's Boards.
The volumes already published are: —

Via Christi. A Study of Missions before Carey. By
Louise Manning Hodgkms.

Lux Christi. A Study of Missions in India. By Caroline
Atwater Mason.

Rex CliristUS. A Study of Missions in China. By Rev.
Arthur H. Smith, D.D.

Dux ChristUS. A Study of Missions in Japan. By Rev.
W. E. Griffis, D.D.

CliristUS Liberator. A Study of Missions in Africa. By
Ellen C. Parsons.

ChristUS Redemptor. A Study of the Island World. By
Helen Barrett Montgomery.

RACES OF IMMIGRANTS FISCAL YEAR 1905

FIGURES ON THE MAP REPBESENT THE NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS OFTHE RACES NAMtO COMING FROM EaCm COUNTRV INDICATED, WHILE THE FIGURES ON TmE BARS REPRESENT TmE
TOTAL NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS OF THE RACES NAMED COMING FROM ALL COUNTRIES.

THE COLOR ON MAP INDICATES APPROXIMATELY REGIONS OF THE RACIAL GRAND DIVISIONS

WHERE THE TERMS 'BOHEMIAN," ■ BULGARIAN, '■ CROATIAN AND DALMATIAN - ARE USED, THET REFER TO BOHEMIAN AND MORAVIAN, ' ■■BULGARIAN, SERVIAN. AND MONTENEGRIN "
CROATIAN AND SLOVENIAN. AND " DALMATIAN, BOSNIAN. AND HERZEGOVl N IAN '

DATE DUE

GAYLORD

PRINTED IN U..S A.

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